Colon scans surprise doctors
Lifestyle, diet can increase the risk of colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer is a gastrointestinal cancer with a high incidence in Vietnam. Colorectal cancer when detected early can be completely cured. However, about a quarter of colorectal cancer cases go to the hospital when it is at an advanced stage.
Doctor Pham Cam Phuong, Director of the Center for Nuclear Medicine and Oncology (Bach Mai Hospital), said the risk factors for colorectal cancer are:
– People with a family history of colorectal cancer.
– People with a history of familial colorectal polyposis syndrome.
– People with chronic ulcerative colitis.
– People with an unbalanced diet: Eat a lot of meat, animal fat, low fiber, eat a lot of salt, salted by-products.
– People who are overweight and obese, people with unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, inactivity.
Eating a lot of meat and animal fat increases the risk of colorectal cancer.
According to Associate Professor Phuong, a few years ago, the center received a 26-year-old colon cancer patient. The patient is unmarried and very young. When investigating the history, more than a decade ago, this patient’s father also died of colon cancer.
The patient came to the examination and was diagnosed with late stage colon cancer with lymph node metastasis, multifocal liver metastasis, and peritoneal metastasis. When the doctor performed a colonoscopy, the entire lumen of the patient’s colon had thousands of large and small dense polyps, with cancerous polyp locations.
“Colorectal cancer is common in people over 40 years old. For young people with colorectal cancer, there is often a family factor, and when they arrive at the hospital, it is often at a late stage. This 26-year-old patient has been treated. chemotherapy, targeted drugs and the patient survived for 25 months”, Doctor Phuong information.
Symptoms of colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer has many of the same symptoms as colitis, but there are also some recognizable “indicator” signs.
For example, if the tumor is in the rectum, the patient will feel pain in the anus, pain in the abdomen, bloody mucus stools, bowel movements many times a day, a feeling of urgency, a feeling that the bowels will not go away. stool, the stool pattern changes small and flat.
If the tumor is located higher than the colon, the patient has symptoms of digestive disorders such as constipation, loose stools.
According to Doctor Phuong, with normal digestive disorders, patients often have loose stools and this will clear up after a few days. And digestive disorders due to colorectal cancer will last, increase, go out with bloody mucus.
“Some colorectal cancer patients go to the doctor in a state of fatigue and anemia. In fact, there are patients who go to a hematology specialist to check for anemia. showing cancer”, Doctor Phuong said.
In addition, patients with colorectal cancer may have bowel obstruction, semi-obstruction (intermittent abdominal pain, bowel obstruction due to inability to defecate). Some people even have a ruptured tumor causing peritonitis or have distant metastases such as liver or lung metastases.
Currently, in the treatment of colorectal cancer, surgery is the basic method. In addition, depending on the stage of the disease and the patient’s condition, the doctor will decide whether to combine chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted drugs, and immunotherapy.
If colorectal cancer is found at a very early stage, the doctor can remove the tumor through a colonoscopy.
Chemotherapy is also a method of treating this disease, ie using drugs by injection or by mouth to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy radiation to destroy cancer cells. This method can be performed after surgery to destroy the remaining cancer cells after surgery, reducing the risk of recurrence and metastasis.
Dr. Phuong said colorectal cancer can be prevented through healthy eating habits.
– Limit eating too much red meat, fried, grilled food
– Increase eating green vegetables, fresh fruits, foods rich in fiber will be good for the colon.
– Limit alcoholic beverages, alcohol, tobacco to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.
Physical activity, movement or exercise will reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.
Doctor Phuong noted that people with colorectal disease should be treated completely. People over 40 years old should have a colonoscopy to screen for cancer. In the case of polyps, they need to be removed early to avoid cancer.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
