Colon and Rectum Cancer

Description

The clarge intestine cancer (olon and rectum)s one of the most frequent malign tumors worldwide. It is the second in incidence after lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women. It incidence increases with age.

The number of patients diagnosed with the prevention programs requiring surgical resection (removal of the area affected) as the first line of treatment is ever growing.

The most common origin of colon cancer are polyps growing inside the colon that when not detected and resected on time may grow, swell and degenerate into a malign tumor that may obstruct the colon or disseminate as metastasis to other organs. Early detection tests such as colonoscopy, and virtual colonoscopy, Septin 9 test and bloody stools test are essential as treated in its first stages the cure rate if nearly 90%.

Symptoms

Symptoms of colon cancer vary depending on the area where it is located. The most common ones are the presence of blood in stools,abdominal pain, changes in natural rhythm, stools narrower than normal (for the presence of a tumor), feeling of incomplete intestinal evacuation and fatigue or weight loss without evident cause. From CMED we recommend to visit a specialist at the slightest sign of any of the symptoms described as well as to perform tests for early detection such as a colonoscopy.

Treatment

The treatment of colorectal cancer is multidisciplinary and requires the intervention of gastroenterologists, oncologists, radiologists and digestive surgeons. In CMED we have joined all these specialists and each case is discussed to decide the most convenient therapeutic approach. In most cases it is necessary to perform a surgical intervention to remove the area of the colon where the tumor is located. This operation is not complex and may be performed by laparoscopy or openly, as the case may be. We perform a laparoscopic approach practically in 95% of cases so the patient’s recovery is faster and therefore, chemotherapy treatments are started quickly when necessary.