About Colon Cancer.
Colon cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, in men and women, is the third commonest cause of cancer. When men and women are put together, colon cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths all around the world. Colon cancer is slightly more common in women rather than men. Colon cancer is cancer which is the second most diagnosed cancer and is the commonest gastrointestinal malignancy. The prevalence of colorectal cancer is increasing in the younger population. The risk factors for developing colon cancer include age, smoking, family history, and diet, which is high in red meat and poor in fiber. Colon cancer is a malignant tumor of the large bowel, including the rectum, and it’s unique in the type of cancer in that it has a precursor lesion. So 95% of colon cancer starts out as colon polyps that grow and become malignant over time. Colon cancer mainly comes from a benign clump of cells called a polyp. Some polyps become cancerous with the passage of time, causing colon cancer to develop. Colon cancer is a malignant tumor of the large intestine that includes the colon and the rectum. It is one of the most common tumors of solid organs that is excluded from the skin, and it is due primarily to changes in the genes and the cells that lie in the colon and rectum. These changes in the genes allow the cells in the colon and rectum to escape the normal controls on cell growth, and normally, our body cells are growing all the time; there are tight controls on that so that the cells do not escape and grow too fast and then become a tumor and then become a cancer so colon and rectal cancer cells have escaped those controls because of abnormalities in genes, now those abnormalities in genes are mostly due to things that we eat and other aspects of our environment such as smoking, drinking alcohol, being overweight and having a sedentary lifestyle but things in our diet that are a problem, having too much red meat, having too little fruit and vegetables and these aspects of our environment and our lifestyle caused genetic changes that build up over the years so that by age 50 to 60 a person start forming polyp in the large intestine. Then those polyps, or at least a small proportion of them, will become cancers.
Symptoms/Signs of colon cancer.
- Change in bowel habits, including constipation or dietary that last more than a few days. You may also have difficulty emptying your bowels and experience some kind of discomfort when you have a bowel movement.
- Narrowing of stools. You may also have stools that appear narrower than usual or have a different size or shape than normal. If there is an obstruction, then the path of passing stool becomes narrow. The size and shape of the stool vary according to the size of the tumor.
- Blood in your stool that makes it look dark brown or black can also be associated with colon cancer.
- Pain in the abdominal region and rectum and bloating. You may also experience stomach pain, gas, and stomach cramps and feel bloated or full all the time, even if you have not eaten recently. The abdominal pain in colorectal cancer can be due to the partial or complete obstruction of the bowel or evasion of the cancer into the peritoneum.
- Unexplained anemia is one of the major signs. It is due to cancer-related chronic blood loss, which decreases the oxygen-carrying cells in our body. So if a patient is anemic, they may find that they are tired, weak, and experience fatigue.
- Palpable abdominal mass on the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. If the tumor is in the right lower quadrant, it may be palpable in some patients.
- The next important sign or symptom is tenesmus, which is a feeling or sensation of the urge to defecate and also a sensation of incomplete defecation.
Prevention and cure of colon cancer.
Early prevention and cure of colon cancer is colonoscopy at the earlier stage only. A whole routine colonoscopy and fecal occult blood test can be done to look for polyps and early carcinomas so that they can be removed at an early stage. Treatment and cure for colon cancer depend on the stages of the cancer. Early stage cancers that are confined to the wall of the colon are often surgically resected, and those that have spread to nearby lymph nodes are often treated with chemotherapy. Treatment for colon cancer includes chemotherapy and radiation therapy. So it is 100% fair to say that, yes, colon cancer is a curable disease and can be prevented with precautions and treatment.