About the disease
Colorectal cancer is also sometimes called either colon or rectal cancer. Colorectal tumor usually appears because of abnormal growth of malignant and cancerous cells in the large intestine. Nevertheless, if there was no timely treatment and if colorectal cancer is advanced, chances for survival become low. People who were diagnosed with this disease at its last stage have only 10% of survival rate. If you were diagnosed with this disease, you need to start treatment as soon as possible not to have complications in future.
Most well-known causes for colorectal cancer are:
- Obesity
- Alcoholism
- Lack of active lifestyle
- Excessive consumption of red meat
- Genetic predisposition
- Adverse environmental factors
It was scientifically proved, that if person eats too much red meat and does not follow essential dietary restrictions, he can develop colorectal cancer. Main factors that cause cancer are genetic predisposition and old age.
According to Todd Jackman, who is a well-known biologist who also had colorectal tumor and who decided to research the gene that caused it combination of gene APC and p53 can contribute to development of cancerous tissue. In fact, 80% of patient who suffer from colorectal cancer have APC gene. It means that timely DNA research that can reveal high level of gene that causes cancer can help predict it and even prevent it. To come to this conclusion, Todd Jackman researched sample of his own cancerous tissue and sample of his cheek swab to compare and analyze level of genes, that could possibly provoke growth of malignant cells. Todd Jackman is a Biology professor at Villanova University (USA) and article about him and his research was published in U.S.news.
Symptoms
Most common colorectal cancer symptoms, that indicate growth of malignant formation, are:
- Fatigue
- Loss of weight
- Abnormal blood in everyday stool
- Strange bowel movements
- Nausea
- Indigestion
- Pain in large intestine
Signs of malignant formation do not usually appear during its early stages. Due to this fact it is very important to be diagnosed in the hospital as soon as the patient notices any changes in his health condition. Bookinghealth.com uses the most modern diagnostic methods to detect colorectal cancer early.
Diagnosis
Early diagnosis of colorectal tumor can save your life. Most common diagnostics methods include biopsy, colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy. During such diagnostic methods a doctor obtains little part of colon tissue of the colon for future analysis in the laboratory. Sometimes during the colonoscopy doctor finds little polyps, which he removes immediately. These polyps in most cases are not very dangerous and in this case surgery can be skipped. If polyps are big, the patient needs to undergo a biopsy, during which it can be precisely determined if there is a trace of tumor in the large intestine.
Specialised hospitals use screening as a way to diagnose the patient.
Treatment
- If stage of tumorous malformation is not much progressed, you may need only to undergo a course of conservative treatment with one course of chemotherapy. Such course is highly effective for patients with localized cancer which did not metastasize to other organs. Doctors use the most modern chemotherapy techniques to kill malignant cells and to reduce size of tumor completely. Chemotherapy can also prevent development of new malignant formations in future. Even though chemotherapy can have such side effects as hair loss, nausea and dizziness, if you choose the right clinic, you will be given help and additional care that will alleviate side effects.
- Surgery is the most common type of colorectal cancer treatment. In most cases it involves resection of malignant formation and in some cases of resection of colon.
- Endoscopic resection is a surgical procedure which removes cancerous tissues from digestive tract. It is performed with a special camera, which helps a doctor to remove malignant formation in the colon.
- Colostomy closure is reattachment of colon to colon or rectum, which helps a doctor to reestablish waste flow from gastrointestinal tract.
Authors: Dr. Vadim Zhiliuk, Dr. Sergey Pashchenko
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