"Early detection and early treatment" is particularly important in the prevention and treatment of malignant tumors. In general, the earlier the tumor is detected, the better the treatment will be. Nowadays, there are more and more patients with bowel cancer. Fortunately, there are some symptoms that can indicate the occurrence of bowel cancer, and if you can be keenly aware of certain changes in your body, it is equivalent to taking the lead in the game against the disease.
Colorectal cancer usually includes colon cancer and rectal cancer, and the incidence is ranked from highest to lowest, including rectum, sigmoid colon, cecum, ascending colon, descending colon, and transverse colon. In recent years, there has been a tendency to develop proximal (right colon) at the site of the disease.
The age of onset of bowel cancer tends to be aging, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.65:1, and the causes of bowel cancer are related to familial genetic factors, high-fat and low-fiber diet, chronic inflammation of the large intestine, colorectal adenoma and other factors. Patients are asymptomatic in the early stage, or the symptoms are not obvious, and some patients only feel abdominal discomfort, indigestion, and occult blood in the stool. So, how can we detect cancer as early as possible and "nip it in the cradle"?
Colorectal cancer patients show different clinical signs and symptoms due to the different parts of the disease. The following groups of people need to be especially vigilant about the occurrence of bowel cancer. First of all, people with a clear family history of gastrointestinal tumors, even if they have no symptoms, should have regular checkups to prevent it from occurring. Secondly, normal people must pay enough attention to the following symptoms when they appear in the body - blood in the stool, constipation, and diarrhea.
In this regard, some people will ask: "I have all these symptoms, and I have not had tumors!" Now let's talk about how to tell if the symptoms are related to bowel cancer.
Blood in the stool: positive for exposure
Blood in the stool is bleeding from the digestive tract that passes from the anus, giving the stool a bright red, dark red or tarry black color. A small amount of gastrointestinal bleeding does not cause a change in the color of the stool and is determined by a fecal occult blood test, which is called occult blood.
When a person has blood in the stool, doctors first make a rough inference about the location and cause of the lesion based on the color of the blood in the stool. The farther the bleeding site is from the anus and the longer it takes to have a bowel movement, the darker the color. Therefore, blood in the stool is generally caused by perianal diseases, such as hemorrhoids, fissures, rectal cancer, etc.; dark red bloody stools are usually caused by distal small intestine and colon diseases, such as small intestinal stromal tumors, inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer, etc.; black stool is usually bleeding caused by upper gastrointestinal diseases, and the hemoglobin in the blood is denatured during the discharge of the digestive tract and causes the color to deepen, such as gastroduodenal ulcer, biliary tract bleeding, gastric cancer, etc.
Of course, if the patient eats a large amount of animal blood products, animal offal, or certain fruits, such as dragon fruit, or takes iron and bismuth for a long time, it may also cause the stool to be black. Therefore, blood in the stool is not all a sign of bowel cancer.
Fecal occult blood is not visible to the naked eye. A small amount of bleeding from any part of the digestive tract may result in positive fecal occult blood. In the era of lack of examination methods, the old experts found the clues of colon cancer on the test sheet of a "+" sign of fecal occult blood to save lives. That's why stool tests are included in routine physical exams.
If the patient has any form of blood in the stool, or has a positive appearance of occult blood in the stool, it is necessary to pay attention to it and investigate it to the end to find out the cause.
Constipation: colonoscopy to find out
First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between the two concepts of constipation and bloating. Constipation is a manifestation of less than 3 bowel movements per week, hard and dry stools, and difficulty in defecation. Abdominal distension is a common clinical symptom, and patients mainly present with abdominal discomfort and distention. This is due to slowing of bowel movements, flatulence, or intestinal blockage. That said, constipation can cause bloating, and having symptoms of bloating does not mean constipation.
To understand the relationship between constipation and bowel cancer, patients need to have a colonoscopy. This is the most straightforward way to rule out organic lesions. If no organic lesions are confirmed, patients with constipation can improve their symptoms by adjusting their Xi habits, maintaining a good mood, and using necessary laxative medications.
Diarrhea and constipation alternate, so be highly vigilant
Diarrhea refers to the frequency of bowel movements significantly more than usual Xi, while the stool is thin and the water increases. In general, patients have more than 200 grams of stool per day, and the stool may contain undigested food, pus, blood, mucus, etc. Patients with diarrhea are often accompanied by symptoms such as urgency to defecate, discomfort, and incontinence. Diarrhea can be divided into acute diarrhea and chronic diarrhea according to the length of the disease.
Acute diarrhea has a rapid onset, and the course of the disease is mostly 2~3 weeks, mostly due to the intestinal infection caused by the patient's infection with bacteria or viruses, and some patients have food or drug poisoning. Chronic diarrhea refers to recurrent diarrhea with a course of more than two months or an intermittent period of 2~4 weeks, and its causes are more complex, which may be infectious or non-infectious. For example, patients with intestinal infectious diseases (chronic amoebic dysentery, chronic bacterial diseases, intestinal tuberculosis, etc.), non-infectious enteritis (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, radiation enteritis, etc.), benign and malignant tumors of the digestive tract (stromal tumors, colon polyps, colon cancer, lymphoma, etc.), intestinal functional diseases (small intestine malabsorption, irritable bowel syndrome, etc.), gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery, etc. (gastric resection, ileocecal resection, cholecystectomy, etc.).
If the patient has symptoms of diarrhea and constipation alternately, special attention should be paid to it. Please go to the hospital for a colonoscopy as soon as possible to confirm whether you have colorectal cancer.
Tips:
Don't worry too much about polyps when you find them
When it comes to colonoscopy, I have to mention this symptom that many people are very concerned about - polyps. Many people associate polyps with bowel cancer, and when they hear that they have polyps, they are terrified, but they don't have to.
Modern medicine often refers to growths that grow on the surface of the human mucous membranes as polyps. Polyps are actually a type of benign tumors, and adenomatous polyps, inflammatory polyps and hyperplastic polyps are commonly seen in clinical practice. Among them, adenomatous polyps, including tubular adenomas, villous adenomas and villous tubular adenomas, are true polyps. Most of the polyps found in the intestine are benign polyps, especially those with a diameter of <1 cm, which have a low probability of becoming cancerous. However, some polyps have a tendency to become malignant and require pathological tests to determine their type.
Many symptoms such as diarrhea and constipation are also caused by polyps. Polyps larger than 0.3 cm may cause blood in the stool and occult blood in the stool. Polyps of more than 1 cm can cause symptoms such as poor bowel movements and abdominal discomfort.
During the colonoscopy, if a polyp is less than 0.4 cm, the doctor will remove it on the spot. However, polyps larger than 0.4 cm require strict bed rest because of the possibility of delayed bleeding or perforation, and it is generally recommended to be hospitalized for resection.
If you find a polyp, don't worry too much and follow your doctor's advice for treatment. Nowadays, the gradual popularization of painless endoscopy has greatly reduced the pain of patients during examination, and under the same anesthesia, gastroscopy can be done at the same time, which not only reduces the pain, but also saves time and cost. Therefore, it is recommended that people over 40 years old have a routine colonoscopy for initial screening. If there is no problem with the examination, colonoscopy screening can be performed after 3~5 years. If polyps are found in the colonoscopy, even if they are benign, ask the patient to have a colonoscopy after one year for follow-up.
Source: Public Health magazine