Health Info about Cancer

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Signs and Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer

https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/s...on-cancer.html


A change in bowel habits, such as diarrhea, constipation, or narrowing of the stool, that lasts for more than a few days
A feeling that you need to have a bowel movement that is not relieved by doing so
Rectal bleeding
Dark stools, or blood in the stool
Cramping or abdominal (belly) pain
Weakness and fatigue
Unintended weight loss

Screening could save your life

Because colorectal cancer often doesn’t cause symptoms until it is advanced, the American Cancer Society recommends regular colorectal cancer screening for most people starting at age 50. People with a family history of the disease or who have certain other risk factors should talk with their doctor about beginning screening at a younger age. Several different tests can be used to screen for colorectal cancer. Talk with your doctor to find out which tests might be right for you.

When colorectal cancer is found early, before it has spread, the 5-year relative survival rate is 90%. This means 9 out of 10 people with early-stage cancer survive at least 5 years. But if the cancer has had a chance to spread outside the colon or rectum, survival rates are lower.


How do they know if it’s cancer?

If your doctor finds something suspicious during a screening test, or if you have any of the symptoms associated with colorectal cancer, your doctor will probably recommend exams and tests to find the cause.

Your doctor may want to take a complete medical history to check for symptoms and risk factors, including your family history. As many as 1 in 5 people who develop colorectal cancer have other family members – especially parents, brothers and sisters, or children – who’ve had it. (Still, most colorectal cancers occur in people without a family history of it.)

Having other colon problems can also increase risk. This includes pre-cancerous polyps, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and hereditary syndromes such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (HNPCC), also known as Lynch syndrome. Having type 2 diabetes can also increase risk.

As part of a physical exam, your doctor will carefully feel your abdomen and also examine the rest of your body. You might also get certain blood tests to help determine if you might have colorectal cancer.

Your doctor may also recommend more tests, such as colonoscopy or an x-ray or CT scan of your colon and rectum. If colorectal cancer is strongly suspected, a colonoscopy is typically done and any abnormal areas are biopsied. In a biopsy, the doctor removes small pieces of tissue with a special instrument passed through the scope. The biopsy samples are then looked at under a microscope for cancer cells.

If you are diagnosed with colorectal cancer, treatment depends on how early it is found, but may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and targeted therapies. It’s important for you to be able to talk frankly and openly with your doctor, and to ask questions if you don’t understand something. Here is a list of questions to ask your doctor that you can take with you.