According to the American Cancer Society, just over 103,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer this year, and 40,300 people with learn they have rectal cancer.
When found early, colorectal cancer is usually cured. Because early screening is now common and treatments have improved, the mortality rate for this cancer has been decreasing over the past two decades.
Still, nearly 52,000 Americans will not win their fight against colorectal cancer this year.
The most common symptom of colorectal cancer is a change in bowel habits.
These changes can include:
- Having either diarrhea or constipation
- Feeling that your intestine isn’t emptying completely
- Finding blood (either bright red or very dark) in your stool
- Finding your stools are narrower than usual
- Frequently having gas pains or cramps; feeling full or bloated
- Losing weight for no known reason
- Feeling very tired all the time
- Having nausea or vomiting
Most often, these symptoms are not due to cancer. Other health problems can cause the same symptoms. However, if you’re experiencing symptoms and they don’t go away in a few weeks, see your doctor. Usually, early cancer does not cause pain, so it is important not to wait to feel pain before seeing a doctor.
Life after being diagnosed with cancer will be different for everyone. Some people will have minimal disease and it will be a short chapter of their lives, while others will have a diagnosis that will change the course of the rest of their lives. Cancer diagnoses can change relationships, your routines, your work and home life. One thing is certain, no one person’s experience will be exactly the same. There are however, plenty of resources to learn about what life was like for other people, and what they did to achieve balance, maintain their health and personal life, keep peace of mind, and enjoy their lives with or after cancer.
Your experience with cancer will depend on the type of cancer you have, your choices of treatment and the lifestyle you lead. Be sure to speak with your Doctor about the side effects of your disease and the treatments you choose. Your Doctor will be able to consult with you on realistic lifestyle expectations.
The choice of treatment depends mainly on the location of the tumor in the colon or rectum and the stage of the disease. Treatment for colorectal cancer usually involves surgery. Surgery is the most common treatment for colorectal cancer. Here are the most common types of surgery used:
- Colonoscopy. A small malignant polyp may be removed from your colon or upper rectum with a colonoscope.
- Laparoscopy. Early colon cancer may be removed with the aid of a thin, lighted tube (laparoscope).
- Open surgery. The surgeon makes a large cut into your abdomen to remove the tumor and part of the healthy colon or rectum.
Stomas
When a section of your colon or rectum is removed, the surgeon can usually reconnect the healthy parts. However, sometimes reconnection is not possible. In this case, the surgeon creates a new path for waste to leave your body. The surgeon makes an opening (stoma) in the wall of the abdomen, connects the upper end of the intestine to the stoma and closes the other end.
The operation to create the stoma is called a colostomy. A flat bag fits over the stoma to collect waste, and a special adhesive holds it in place. For most people, the stoma is temporary.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells. The drugs enter the bloodstream and can affect cancer cells all over the body.
These drugs are usually given through a vein (intravenously) but some may be given by mouth. You may be treated in an outpatient part of the hospital, at the doctor’s office or at home. A hospital stay is needed only rarely.
Generally, screening tests for colon cancer detect the disease. There are a number of tests to find polyps and colon cancer before you have symptoms.
If polyps are found, they can be removed, which may prevent colorectal cancer from developing. Also, early detection leads to more effective treatment results.
If you are in your 50s or older, you should be screened for colorectal cancer. If you are at higher risk of colorectal cancer because of a family history, talk with your doctor about whether to have screening tests before age 50. Find out tests to have, the benefits and risks of each test and how often to schedule appointments.
The following screening tests can be used to detect polyps, cancer or other abnormal growths:
- Fecal occult blood test (FOBT). Sometimes cancers or polyps bleed, and the FOBT can detect tiny amounts of blood in the stool.
- If blood is found, other tests are needed to find the source of the blood.
- Sigmoidoscopy. Using a thin, lighted tube called a sigmoidoscope, the inside of the rectum and the lower part of the colon is examined.
- Colonoscopy. Your doctor examines inside the rectum and entire colon using a long, lighted tube called a colonoscope.
- Double-contrast barium enema. You are given an enema with a barium solution that helps to highlight any unusual areas.
- Digital rectal exam. A rectal exam is often part of a routine physical examination. Your physician examines the rectum to feel for abnormal areas.
- Virtual colonoscopy. This method is under study
Biopsy
- If tests show an abnormal area (such as a polyp), a biopsy to check for cancer cells will most likely be necessary.
- Cancer is diagnosed following a biopsy, which involves removing tissue from the tissue, lump, growth or suspicious area and looking for cancer cells. A biopsy is the only way to tell for sure if cancer is present.
- Often, the abnormal tissue is removed during the colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy.
- Biopsies can be done in several ways, using other technologies such as CT scan or ultrasound to find the tumor to be tested.
- If the biopsy detects cancer, additional tests will be needed to learn more about the nature and extent of the disease.
Every cancer diagnosis is different, just as every person who is diagnosed with cancer is different. Cancer knows no barriers to race, age, or social group. However there is one thing that each and every person who is diagnosed with cancer will have in common: help with fighting and beating the disease.
Life after being diagnosed with cancer will be different for everyone. Some people will have minimal disease and it will be a short chapter of their lives, while others will have a diagnosis that will change the course of the rest of their lives. Cancer diagnoses can change relationships, your routines, your work and home life. One thing is certain, no one person’s experience will be exactly the same. There are however, plenty of resources to learn about what life was like for other people, and what they did to achieve balance, maintain their health and personal life, keep peace of mind, and enjoy their lives with or after cancer.
Clinical Trials
The search for a cure for cancer is an ongoing, constant battle. Clinical trials are the basis upon which new treatments and medications are proven to help the fight against cancer, or if researchers should pursue another tactic. The advancement of medicine depends on willing and able cancer patients to volunteer for experimental treatments so that future generations will have proven and effective cures. Not every patient with cancer will be eligible for a clinical trial, as the scientific method needs specific patients with specific types of cancers. However, patients who are selected for trials may benefit from being at the cutting edge of new research, and gain time they otherwise might not have had.
The National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health has a comprehensive database of over 10,000 ongoing clinical trials that both help advance medicine and help patients.
Financial Help
Unfortunately, cancer treatment can be costly, even if a patient has very comprehensive health insurance. For patients who do not have health insurance, the cost of treatment may seem insurmountable. Fortunately many pharmaceutical companies offer cost assistance to help make treatment more affordable. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network has compiled a Virtual Reimbursement Room where patients can find information for accessing financial help with their treatment costs.
These risk factors don’t determine who does and doesn’t develop the disease. Some people with colorectal cancer have no known risk factors. Likewise, people who have strong risk factors don’t necessarily experience it.
This means everyone needs to be careful about screening for colorectal cancer, starting at age 50, or earlier if you have a family history of the disease. Talk to your doctor about the best screening schedule for you based on your individual health and family history.
Here are the major factors that can increase your colorectal cancer risks:
- Age over 50. Colorectal cancer is more likely to occur as people get older.
- More than 90 percent of people with this disease are diagnosed after age 50.
- The average age at diagnosis is 72.
- Colorectal polyps. Polyps are growths on the inner wall of the colon or rectum, which are common in people over age 50.
- Most polyps are benign (not cancer), but some polyps (adenomas) can become cancer.
- Finding and removing polyps may reduce the chance of colorectal cancer developing.
- Family history of colorectal cancer. If you have close relatives (parents, brothers, sisters or children) with a history of colorectal cancer, you are somewhat more likely to develop this disease.
- Personal history of cancer. If you have already had colorectal cancer, the disease can return. Also, women with a history of cancer of the ovary, uterus (endometrium), or breast are at a somewhat higher risk of developing colorectal cancer.
- Ulcertive colitis or Crohn’s disease. Having a condition that causes inflammation of the colon (such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease) for many years increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer.
- Diet. Studies suggest that diets high in fat (especially animal fat) and low in calcium, folate and fiber may increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
- Some studies suggest that people who eat a diet very low in fruits and vegetables may have a higher risk of colorectal cancer.
- Cigarette smoking. Smoking cigarettes may increase the risk of developing polyps and colorectal cancer.
- Genetic alterations. Changes in certain genes increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
- Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) is the most common type of inherited (genetic) colorectal cancer, accounting for about two percent of all colorectal cancer cases.
- It is caused by changes in an HNPCC gene.Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a rare inherited condition in which hundreds of polyps form in the colon and rectum.
Colorectal cancer is a common form of cancer that generally is seen in people over the age of 50. Screening for this disease is extremely important and can actually help prevent it.
Cancer always starts in the cells, which make up the tissue that is found in the colon and rectum and throughout the body. Cells have a life of their own – they grow and mature and eventually die off, at which point they’re replaced.
Sometimes, though, something goes haywire – new cells might form even though the body doesn’t need them, and sometimes old or damaged cells don’t die off as they’re supposed to.
When this happens, cells start growing wild. All the extra cells build up and form a mass of some sort that’s called a lump, growth a tumor.
Tumors can be benign (not cancer) or malignant (cancer).
Benign tumors are generally not harmful. Malignant or cancerous tumors, though, can invade nearby tissue and spread to the lymph nodes and other areas of the body. When cancer spreads, this is known as metastasis.
When colorectal cancer spreads outside the colon or rectum, cancer cells are often found in nearby lymph nodes. If cancer cells have reached these nodes, they may also have spread to other lymph nodes or other organs.
Colorectal cancer cells most often spread to the liver.