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Advanced Colon Cancer Symptoms

Colon cancer is extremely common in the United States. In fact, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004, "73,997 men and 71,086 women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer. 26,881 men and 26,699 women died from it." Because of the threat of being part of those numbers it's a good idea to know the symptoms of advanced colon cancer. It's also wise to be preventative. Know the reasons why this disease happens.

  1. Symptoms

    • As unfortunate as this disease is, people generally do not experience any symptoms until the colon cancer is quite advanced. However, some symptoms may include fatigue, night sweats, anemia, blood in stool, diarrhea, constipation, lack of bowel movements, and pain in the right shoulder.

    Advanced Symptoms

    • When colon cancer is in the advanced stages, a patient may have different symptoms. These include abdominal pain, loss of appetite, weight loss, and sometimes weakness. In addition, the patient may also experience bleeding which results in anemia. This explains the weakness.

    Cause

    • The correlation between eating habits and the disease is prominent. A poor diet low in fiber and high in starches and fats, seems to be strongly linked to colon cancer says CEA Scan. Another reason for contracting this disease is due to genetic make up. Unfortunately you can't control genetics. However, you can control what you eat.

    Testing

    • Testing for colon cancer can start at home. It is done by a test called the Fecal Occult Blood Test. This is done by the patient himself in the comfort of his own home. This test will detect blood in the stool. If the result is positive, it does not mean you have colon cancer. However, it does tell you something is awry. This should be followed up with your physician and possibly taking further tests.

    Diagnosis

    • A more thorough investigation into the matter is through the diagnosis done by a colonoscopy. This procedure is able to detect the smallest polyp. Catching it before it becomes cancerous is the goal of a colonoscopy test. In addition, it can easily snip off the polyp and have a lab analyze it to check for malignancies.

    Treatment

    • Treatment of advanced colon cancer is always treated with surgery. After surgery, radiation and chemotherapy treatments are usually routine. The colon cancer can reoccur within five years in about half of the amount of patients that get this disease. To help eliminate this, a test called a CEA blood test--along with annual monitoring--should be done for patients who had this cancer initially.

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