Colon Cancer – Causes, Tests, Prevention and Treatment Methods
Deadliest Colon Cancer: Detect Early Rather than Fight Later
Cancer is a dreaded disease that is capable of affecting every part of the body organ. The adjoining organs and tissues can be easily invaded by the cells surrounding malignant tumor; this is how cancer disease spreads. Cancer cells also have the potential of escaping from the tumor into the blood stream and cause the disease to be circulated to other body organs; a process known as metastasis.
Colon Cancer
Colon is a part of the large intestine that is the longest. When the cancer disease affects the tissues of the colon, it is called cancer of the colon or colon caner. Majority of colon cancers are cancers that start in the cells; and are responsible for building and emitting mucus as well as fluids of different kinds. This kind of cancers is termed adenocarcinomas. Rectal cancer on the other hand, is the cancer that has its formation in the tissues of the rectum.
Causes of Colon Cancer
Cancer of the colon is known to arise usually from a benign colonic polyp. Researchers are trying out new ways to carry out checks for colon and rectal cancer.
Tests for Colon Cancer
Virtual colonoscopy is being tested for its effectiveness in detecting colon cancer; this is known as CT scan of the colon. Also the testing of sample stool for colorectal cancer cells is an ongoing genetic colon cancer test method. Also, a good number of clinical researches and studies are being conducted on new ways of detecting cancerous cells in the colon.
Symptoms of Colon Cancer
Usually, there might be no symptoms for colon cancer; however symptoms might occur depending on the location of the colon. On the right hand of the abdomen is where the first colon and second colon are situated. When cancer occur at these parts, it is likely to show forth symptoms such as traces of blood in the stool, anemic symptoms, body weakness and fatigue. The blood mixed with the stool might cause the stool to appear normal; especially if the blood is in a small quantity. Symptoms in these parts of the colon are usually not many. Abdominal pain is a symptom for the presence of cancer at the transverse colon while the sigmoid colon, the descending and 5th part of the colon might show the symptoms of noticeable red blood in the stool.
However, these symptoms might not out-rightly mean that there is cancer in the colon. Some other medical conditions such as bleeding hemorrhoids, inflammatory bowel disease, Diverticulitis and salmonella might also show similar symptoms.
What Are The Preventive Measures For Colon Cancer?
Dietary pattern is sometimes responsible for causing different types of cancer; though definite causes of cancer are still in research. However a healthy dietary pattern goes a long way in preventing this and other types of cancer. Individuals should make conscious efforts to eat plenty of vegetables, whole grains and fresh fruits, consumption of red meat should also be avoided.
Colon Cancer Treatment Methods
Biological therapy: In treating colon cancer through biological means, the immune system which is the natural ability of the body to withstand diseases such as cancer, is used. Such biological therapy will include the use of monoclonal antibodies or chemotherapy for post surgery treatment; the former is capable of killing cancer. This approach is still undergoing studies and researches though.
There’s also the chemotherapeutic colon cancer treatment. New anti-cancer drugs and drugs combination for colon cancer treatment is being researched by different medical experts. Radiation therapy and drugs are also being combined under recent study to be used for pre and post surgery. As it stands, surgery seems to be the top among the available treatment for colon cancer.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am
my brother-in-law who is 57 has just been diagnosed with colon cancer stage 4 he had no systoms until one day he went to get a ladder out of the back of the truck and started feeling faint.but to find out later his hand had been shaking some like when he went for a glass of water or something,which makes the doctors believe it is in his brain, the family asked not to tell him if they were no other treatment they would be doing and the doctor told them no he would still be doing chemo, so the family said not to tell him so he would have some hope he can beat this
My sister rushed him to the er.after a week of testing,they found the source of the cancer it was a polyp they did a test that showed hot spots on his hip, his skull,and i cannot remember where the other one was,but they wanted to find the source, and they found this polyp they then knew where to start treatment,they did 48 hr of chemo and he went home today and he is to have treatment every 2 weeks they have said it is stage four cancer, please can you tell us where or what can be done to stop this and put it in remission or get rid of it all.And another thing why is it he cannot eat or drink anything cold everything has to be hot,maybe someone knows the answers to these questions. thank you