Archive for the ‘Colorectal Cancer’ Category

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States, striking 140,000 people annually and causing 60,000 deaths. That’s a staggering figure when you consider the disease is potentially curable if diagnosed in the early stages.... Full story

The life-time risk for an adult American to develop colorectal cancer is approximately 6%. Fecal occult blood tests and flexible sigmoidoscopic examinations are the recommended screening tests for these individuals at average risk for developing colorectal cancer. These tests are designed to detect and remove precancerous polyps and identify early cancers in order to decrease mortality from colorectal cancer. Fecal occult blood testing and sigmoidoscopy ... Full story

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States. The average person's lifetime risk of developing it is about one chance in 20. The risk is increased if there is a family history of colorectal polyps or cancer, and is still higher if there is a personal history of breast, uterine or ovarian cancer. Risk is also higher for people with a ... Full story

Hereditary colon cancer syndromes are caused by specific inherited mutations that are sufficient in themselves to cause colon polyps, colon cancers, and non-colonic cancers. Hereditary colon cancer syndrome can affect multiple members of a family. Approximately 5% of all colon cancers in the US are due to hereditary colon cancer syndromes. Patients who have inherited one of these syndromes have an extremely high risk for ... Full story

The colon, also known as the large intestine or large bowel, constitutes the last part of the digestive tract. The colon is a long, muscular tube that receives undigested food from the small intestine. It removes water from the undigested food, stores it and then finally eliminates it from the body through bowel movements. The rectum is the last part of the colon adjacent to ... Full story

Even though double contrast barium enema has been included in screening guidelines, it is not as accurate as colonoscopy or, perhaps, virtual colonoscopy in detecting small polyps or cancers. Like virtual colonoscopy, it cannot remove polyps. Also like virtual colonoscopy, it may mistake particles of stool for polyps. In addition, as the numbers of barium enema examinations decreases, radiologists have less experience doing them, and ... Full story

Virtual colonoscopy is a new technique that uses CT to construct virtual images of the colon that are similar to the views of the colon obtained at colonoscopy. The virtual colonoscopic images are produced by computerized manipulation of two-dimensional images obtained by a CT scanner rather than direct observation through the colonoscope. The colon is cleaned-out using laxatives the day prior to the virtual colonoscopy ... Full story

WHAT IS AN OSTOMY? An ostomy is a surgically created opening connecting an internal organ to the surface of the body. Different kinds of ostomies are named for the organ involved. The most common types of ostomies in intestinal surgery are an "ileostomy" (connecting the ileal part of the small intestine to the abdominal wall) and a "colostomy" (connecting the colon, or, large intestine to the ... Full story

Genetic counseling followed by genetic testing should be considered for individuals as well as their family members when there are: Individuals in the family with early onset of colon cancer, before age 50 Individuals in the family with numerous colon polyps Families in which multiple members have colon cancer Families with members with numerous colon polyps Families with members having colon cancers at young ages ... Full story

What does genetics have to do with colon and rectal cancer? Genes are the biochemical information that we inherit from each of our parents. They determine our varied physical features and may predispose us to certain diseases. Probably all cancers, especially colon and rectal cancer (CRC), have hereditary genetic factors that potentially increase an individual’s risk to developing these malignancies. In other words, genes are the ... Full story