Don’t Let Colorectal Cancer Sneak Up On You
While there may be more awareness for other forms of cancer, colorectal cancer kills 50,000 Americans each year, more than breast or prostate cancer.
Impacting the lives of about 150,000 Americans each year, colorectal cancer is a disease of the colon or rectum which may develop without symptoms, but is often preventable with screening and is highly treatable when detected early.
Symptoms may include:
• Blood in or on stool
• Persistent unusual bowel movements like constipation or diarrhea
• Stomach pain, aches, or cramps that don’t go away
• Losing weight for no reason
However, Dr. Harry Strothers, who practices family and geriatric medicine at Atrium Health Navicent, said, “You don’t have any symptoms until it’s pretty late.”
The screening method of choice is a colonoscopy. While a colonoscopy is somewhat unpleasant, mainly because of the preparation before the procedure and the need to be sedated, it is the “gold standard,” Strothers said.
There are other screening tools available. However, other screening tools have a higher incidence of false positive results and a lower detection rate. While Strothers said the other screening tools are “better than nothing” he prefers the colonoscopy.
The issue with other screening methods, Strothers said, “is if it’s positive, whether it’s really positive or not, you get a colonoscopy. You either find it of confirm it.”
A colonoscopy isn’t a cancer procedure, per se. A doctor examines the intestine, using a colonoscope looking for precancerous polyps and removes them, hopefully before they become cancerous. The polyps are sent to a lab to be examined to determine whether the polyps are precancerous or signs of early cancer, and from there, if necessary, a treatment plan is developed.
It’s recommended that people start having a colonoscopy at age 45 and repeat the procedure every 10 years after that. “It takes a long time,” Strothers said, “to produce polyps large enough to degenerate into cancer.” The procedure takes 30 minutes to an hour and is painless.
There are instances where it may be advised that a person get a colonoscopy before age 45. “If you have family members who have colon cancer,” Strothers said, “and especially any of them that had colon cancer before 50, they’re testing those individuals earlier.”
For help finding a primary care doctor or specialist to help monitor your colon health, visit www.NavicentHealth.org and choose “Find A Doctor.” For information about Atrium Health Navicent’s Peyton Anderson Cancer Center, which holds accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), call (478) 633-3000.
