COLON-RECTUM CANCER

                                                     
            Cancer of the colon (large intestine) and rectum is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. It afflicts men and women about equally.The five-year survival rate from this form of cancer, usually after surgery, is 60 to 70 percent where the cancer was localized and 30 to 40 percent where there was regional involvement. However, authorities now believe that this rate could be upped substantially through early diagnosis and prompt treatment.

             Early symptoms of colon cancer often produce changes in bowel habits that persist longer than normal. The change may be constipation or diarrhea, or even both alternating. cancers of the colon also often produce large quantities of gas, which cause abdominal discomfort ranging from a feeling of overfullness to pain, intermittent at first and then coming as regular cramps.
              Both colon cancer and rectal cancer may also cause bleeding. Sometimes such bleeding is evidenced in the stool or on the tissue (the most frequent first sign of rectal cancer); but if  the bleeding is slight and occurs high enough up to colon, it may not be visible at all. After a period of weeks, however, the persistent bleeding causes anemia in the patient.

              All such symptoms should be investigated promptly. Unfortunately, many persons tend to ignore them. Chronic constipation, for example, or gas, is easy to dismiss for the nuisance that is  usually is. Even rectal bleeding, which demands immediate medical consultation, is often ignored by hemorrhoid sufferers, who fail to realize that hemorrhoids and cancer, though unrelated, can and sometimes do exist in the same persons at the same time.


 Source: The New Complete Medical and Health Encyclopedia