colon cancer early symptoms (bowel cancer symptoms) - colon cancer warning signs
colon cancer early symptoms
(bowel cancer symptoms)are often not present and as a result of this, the condition can present late to the doctor and sometimes ‘acutely’ as a bowel blockage or bowel obstruction in the later stages. The earlier colon cancer warning signs may include tiredness, going off food (anorexia), anaemia, weight loss, change in bowel habit e.g. diarrhea, constipation, mucus, wind, bloating and blood in the stool or ‘bleeding from the back passage’. The problem with all these colon cancer early symptoms is they can occur in other bowel conditions including ibs (although there is NO increased bowel cancer risk with this condition) and inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Who is more likely to develop bowel cancer?
Bowel cancer is a common cancer, but certain people are more at risk. It is most common in people over the age of 50 years (90% of cases) and 8 out of 10 are over the age of 60 years. It is slightly more common in men (1 in 18) in comparison to women (1:20).
However younger people can develop the condition usually due to genetic or inherited risk. The two main conditions are:
1) Hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) which normally develops in people under the age of 50.
2) Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a condition that usually occurs in people under the age of 40 years and is characterised by multiple polyps in the colon (often in the 1000’s).
These 2 conditions are usually distinguished by family history although not always, in particular adopted sufferers may not know their family history.
What causes colon cancer and what are the risk factors for bowel cancer?
The causes of bowel cancer are often multiple, but may include:
1) Age – as outlined
2) FH – as outlined
3) Obesity – poor diet and lack of exercise
4) Alcohol
5) Smoking
6) Exposure to radiation
7) Other medical conditions that increase risk, e.g. ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, Sclerosing Cholangitis.
What conditions can mimic bowel cancer?
Many conditions may mimic colon cancer early symptoms and these may include:
Hemorrhoids
Anal fissure – tear in the anus
Ibs (irritable bowel syndrome)
Inflammatory bowel disease
Ischaemic colitis
Diarrheal illnesses e.g. infections, small bowel diseases and many more!
How can colon cancer be prevented?
Colon cancer survivability depends on many different factors particularly as colon cancer early symptoms are often infrequent, but by far the best way is by prevention in the first place. To understand this, you have to have awareness of the natural development of this cancer. Most bowel cancers develop from colon polyps or adenomas. These are ‘cherry-like’ protuberances that develop in the bowel and as they grow, they change into pre-cancer polyps or ‘dysplastic polyps’ and then cancer. These polyps can cause bleeding, one example of a variety of colon cancer early symptoms. An example of a colon polyp can be seen here:
These polyps can be removed quite easily by snaring or hot biopsy. To do this a colonoscopy is performed (flexible camera test to look into the large bowel). Here is a picture of a snare polypectomy:
A lot of countries are now employing bowel cancer screening to increase colon cancer survival, generally targeting people over the age of 50 with investigations such as fecal occult blood testing (testing the stool for blood),
flexible Sigmoidoscopy
,
colonoscopy
and x-ray technology such as
CT colonography
. Also, those with known risk such as inflammatory bowel disease and family history are targeted.
What is the treatment for bowel cancer?
The main treatment for bowel cancer is surgery although depending on stage of disease other treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy maybe employed. Staging of the disease is dependent on the degree of spread and is classified according to the TNM or Tumor, Node, Metastasis stage. It is this staging system that can give you a statistical chance of survival as outlined:
Colon cancer stage 1 - 93% 5 year survival
Colon cancer stage 2a - 85% 5 year survival
Colon cancer stage 2b - 72% 5 year survival
Colon cancer stage 3a - 83% 5 year survival
Colon cancer stage 3b - 64% 5 year survival
Colon cancer stage 3c - 44% 5 year survival
Colon cancer stage 4 - 8% 5 year survival
How can I prevent bowel cancer?
Prevention is always better than cure. You can lower your risk of developing the disease by adopting a healthy lifestyle (smoking cessation, reduce alcohol intake, diet and exercise) and seeking medical advice at an early stage if you develop any of the symptoms already described, but listed again for convenience:
Signs of colon cancer:
1) Tiredness
2) Off food (anorexia)
3) Weight loss
4) Change in bowel habit (diarrhea, constipation, bleeding, bloating, wind).
In summary, in
colon cancer early symptoms
(bowel cancer symptoms)will allow early detection, increase colon cancer survivability and reduce deaths in this very common cancer.
Comment On Colon Cancer
Colon cancer touches most of us at some point in our lives. Are you concerned you or a love one may have colon cancer? Have you had colon cancer? Share your experiences of the condition with others, how it has affected you, who developed it, what treatments you/they have experienced, what advice you would give to other sufferers or relatives and anything else you care to discuss. Share it with others now, its therapeutic to do so!
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Symptoms & Characteristics
Not rated yet
Symptoms & Characteristics
Lynch syndrome, often called hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), is a type of hereditary cancer of the digestive ...
To return to the ibs-help-online homepage click here
|
