Bowel cancer: signs and first symptoms, the need for early diagnosis of the disease

Colon cancer: types, stages
Another name for intestinal cancer is colorectal cancer.

It is localized in:

• Sigmoid colon;
• Rectum;
• Ascending colon;
• Descending colon;
• Caecum;
• Transverse colon;
• Appendix;
• Small intestine.

If intestinal cancer is detected in the early stages, the patient needs the following comprehensive therapy:

• Innovative type operations (radical or palliative);
• Chemotherapy;
• Radiation therapy.

There are factors influencing the occurrence of neoplasms in the intestinal area:

• Hereditary: family history of cancer, i.e. genetic predisposition, in which you need to monitor your health and see a doctor.
• Intestinal diseases of various types: the presence of polyps, Crohn's disease, adenomas, ulcerative colitis.
• Poor nutrition: fatty foods, low fiber consumption, foods rich in carbohydrates - all this leads to constipation, which causes damage to the intestinal walls and malignancy of its cells.
• Harmful health habits: the use of nicotine, drugs and alcohol can trigger the degeneration of cells into cancer.
• Polluted environment: Cancer can be caused by substances in the pathogenic atmosphere, such as mercury, asbestos, etc.

The development of intestinal cancer is individual in time and directly depends on the above factors and the state of human health.

Bowel cancer is of the following types:

• Intestinal adenocarcinoma (new glandular formation);
• Intestinal lymphoma (damages of the intestinal walls in the location of fibrous tissue, can release metastases to the liver and bone marrow);
• Intestinal carcinoma (damage to intestinal epithelial cells);
• Intestinal sarcoma (occurs on the anterior intestinal wall, pathology grows from connective tissue);
• Intestinal melanoma (cancer formed from melanocytes found in the skin).

Cancer can arise from a benign tumor - an adenoma, which, in turn, arises due to chronic colitis, gastritis and ulcers.

There are four stages of bowel cancer. In the first two stages, symptoms are almost invisible. In the later stages, symptoms are already noticeable, but curing this cancer is much more difficult.

Quarter stage

With her

• Intestinal perforation occurs;
• Possible intestinal bleeding;
• Intestinal obstruction;
• The appearance of a large number of metastases;
• Severe intoxication.

There are many manifestations of bowel cancer. The most common ones are:

• Blood in stool;
• I have a stomachache;
• Digestion is upset.

At an early stage, symptoms are as follows:

• Chronic fatigue;
• Mucus in the stool, blood in the stool (blood in the form of streaks, then in clots);
• Frequent urge to go to the toilet to have a bowel movement;
• Tachycardia;
• Decreased hemoglobin and red blood cells.

At a later stage, the symptoms are much brighter:

Chondrosarcoma

• Intestinal obstruction: gases and feces stop coming out on their own, the intestines become swollen;
• Acute stomach.

Also, symptoms directly depend on the type of intestinal cancer. With adenocarcinoma, symptoms include pain in the large intestine, constipation, fever, and general fatigue.

With carcinoma, the symptoms manifest themselves in the form of a feeling of pain and distension in the abdomen, constipation is replaced by diarrhea, there is mucus and blood in the stool, and the patient’s appetite is poor.

With lymphoma, symptoms include nausea, lack of appetite, fatigue, periodic bloating, gas formation, anemia, and fever.

With sarcoma, the symptoms are manifested by upset stool, heartburn, blood in the stool, painful bowel movements, pain in the lower abdomen, pain when moving, and eating.

Let's consider what signs of cancer are observed in women and men.

Survival prognosis

Pain is an alarming symptom

Prognosis for colorectal cancer is difficult to make. The duration and quality of life with successful treatment of this disease are influenced by the patient’s age, stage of the disease, the presence of concomitant chronic illnesses and bad habits, and compliance with the doctor’s recommendations for behavior in the postoperative period.

Even the presence of a colostomy is not a reason to reduce the quality and duration of a patient’s life. Forecasts based on the stage of the disease:

• At the first stage, without tumor spread to adjacent tissues, the survival prognosis is 99% for 5 years.
• At the second stage, without metastasis, but with carcinoma growing into the intestinal wall, 85% of patients will cross the five-year mark.
• At stage 3 with damage to the lymphatic collectors, 65% of patients survive.
• At stage 4, depending on the prevalence of secondary tumors and the extent of liver damage, 35% of patients have a chance of surviving 5 years after diagnosis.

Among women

Most often, colon cancer occurs in women. Cancer usually appears after the age of forty, as the body prepares for menopause. Very often, cancer arises from the degeneration of polyps. Hereditary predisposition and poor nutrition play a very important role here.

The main symptoms appear after two years. Usually these are abdominal pain, problems with stool, and bloating. When metastasis occurs, the lymph nodes, vagina, and other pelvic organs are affected. In the later stages, the pain intensifies, intestinal incontinence occurs, the patient vomits, the composition of his urine changes, the kidneys are affected, urogenital fistulas occur, and the menstrual cycle may change.

Medical educational program

Intestinal oncology is a problem of today...

Colon means colon in Latin. It is located on the left and right sides of the abdomen. It has transverse sections under the liver and a sigmoid process that passes into the rectum - the rectum.

It is in these 2 areas of the intestine that most malignant neoplasms are diagnosed. In other areas - the cecum, ileum and duodenum, appendix - carcinomas appear extremely rarely.

In 98% of cases, adenocarcinoma is diagnosed. That is, degeneration of benign polyps of the glandular tissue of the intestine occurs. Colon cancer is more often diagnosed in women; rectal carcinomas - in representatives of the stronger sex. According to IBC 10, the disease was assigned code C20.

In men

Men usually get colorectal cancer. Its symptoms are as follows:

• Anus hurts;
• Diarrhea and constipation;
• Blood or mucus appears in the stool.

If the process of metastasis has begun, the prostate may be affected.

The neoplasm can be palpated by a proctologist.

Cancer in men can develop due to the use of harmful substances, poor diet, the presence of intestinal polyps, ulcers, colitis, hemorrhoids, and excess weight.

The first organ in which metastases develop in this type of cancer is the liver. The process occurs at the last stage of the disease. With proper treatment, a patient with this diagnosis can live up to two years.

Metastasis can also occur in the pelvic organs, peritoneum, pancreas, lungs, retroperitoneal space, and bladder.

The processes of metastasis are as follows:

• Initially, the tumor grows into the fatty tissue;
• Perforation of the colon;
• Cancer cells are found in neighboring organs.

First, the rectum is examined by palpation.

Next, colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy are performed. During the latter, the doctor examines the rectal mucosa. Sections of the sigmoid colon can be examined.

During endoscopy, the surgeon performs a biopsy, followed by a histological examination.

To diagnose colon cancer in the early stages, protein levels are determined. Thanks to these tumor markers, bowel cancer can be detected in the absence of symptoms.

Treatment

Comprehensive treatment is recommended: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, radiotherapy.

Reasons for the development of the disease

At the present stage of development of medicine, the reasons causing the degeneration of benign polyps in the intestine have not been determined. But there is a relationship between a person’s diet and the likelihood of a pathological process.

Scientists have found that the less plant fiber is consumed, and the basis of the diet is protein products, the more cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed in the population.

There are 3 groups of reasons contributing to the development of intestinal carcinomas:

Risk factors

Serious risk factors include colon polyps, which often develop into intestinal adenocarcinoma. This transformation is influenced by many factors, for example, the base area of ​​the polyps themselves and their number. The most dangerous are multiple formations.

Risk factors for diseases include chronic inflammation of the colon, including ulcerative colitis. Such a disease, if it lasts about 20 years, leads to cancer in almost 50% of cases. People with Crohn's disease, diffuse familial polyposis of the colon, as well as heredity - if relatives have had colon adenocarcinoma or other types of cancer - are also at risk.

There are also other risk factors:

• unhealthy diet with insufficient fiber and an abundance of fatty and floury foods;
• obesity and physical inactivity - each of these factors contributes to fecal stagnation, which is harmful to the intestines and its health;
• elderly age. With each stage of life, the body’s immunity fights tumors less and less;
• long contact with radiation, carcinogenic substances;
• severe and regular stress, when the mental state affects the general immune system;
• metabolic diseases, such as diabetes;
• diseases that occur in the background, but are associated with various inflammations of the intestines and pelvic organs.

Everything listed in the list, unlike specific diseases, does not directly cause cancer. These are just the factors that make colon adenocarcinoma more likely to develop.

Possible complications

Constipation in oncology is complicated by the following clinical picture:

1. Frequent attacks of vomiting (not dependent on food intake).
2. Bloody discharge from the anus.
3. Weakened immunity due to dysfunction of Peyer's patches - lymphoid accumulations in the small intestine.
4. Marked loss of strength, general weakness.
5. Skin rashes.
6. Intense headaches.
7. Increased temperature, accompanied by fever and chills.

The most dangerous consequence of the pathological condition is intestinal obstruction, characterized by impaired intestinal motility. The complication is caused by partial or complete blocking of the intestine by a malignant tumor. The pathological condition requires immediate surgical intervention, otherwise it can lead to tissue necrosis, systemic blood poisoning and death.

Preventive actions

Prevention in this case is as simple as possible: to avoid intestinal problems that lead to cancer, you need to eat right, follow a drinking regime, be sure to move and monitor your weight. If anyone in your family has had cancer, consult a specialist. In the absence of such heredity, do not forget about screening studies starting at age 50.

Taking good care of your health and leading a healthy lifestyle is the best prevention. This does not guarantee that adenocarcinoma will never develop, but the risks of such a problem will be much lower.

Forms of bowel cancer

A disease such as intestinal cancer involves damage to various parts of the intestine, from the duodenum to the rectum.
However, lesions of the small intestine or duodenal cancer are extremely rare, the stages of the process and symptoms are similar, and digestive disorders predominate. When doctors usually talk about intestinal cancer, they mean the colorectal form of the tumor. When bowel cancer is diagnosed, additional tests are performed to determine the extent of the disease. The stages of colorectal cancer are as follows:

• Stage I (least common cancer): A tumor that affects only the innermost layers of the colon or rectum. The cure rate for stage I cancer is more than 90%, which emphasizes the importance of early detection of pathology.
• Stage II: cancer demonstrating active growth and spread of the tumor through the wall of the colon or rectum to adjacent structures.
• Stage III: cancer associated with the spread of the process to local lymph nodes (metastases).
• Stage IV (the most common cancer): The tumor cells have spread to distant organs, usually the liver and lungs or lymph nodes far from the original tumor.

How to make an appointment with a specialist in oncology

You can make an appointment with oncology specialists on the website - the patient must enter his name, phone number and email address in the appropriate fields. Clinic administrators will call back after processing the received data.

The clinic’s information service specialists are ready to answer any questions and book a convenient visit date for patients by phone.

The oncological clinic is located in the central administrative district of Moscow at 2nd Tverskoy-Yamskaya lane, building 10. The convenient location will allow patients to quickly reach the clinic from the Mayakovskaya, Novoslobodskaya, Tverskaya, Chekhovskaya and Belorusskaya metro stations "

Diagnosis of colon cancer

If your symptoms indicate that you may have colon cancer, you need further testing. To do this, use the following procedures:

Endoscopic diagnostics:

1. Colonoscopy. During colonoscopy, a special instrument (colonoscope) is used, which is a long, flexible and thin tube combined with a video camera and monitor. Thus, the doctor examines the mucous membrane of the entire colon.

If suspicious tissue or polyps are found, he passes surgical instruments through the colonoscope and takes tissue samples (biopsies) or removes the polyps. At the Rassvet clinic, the procedure is performed under general anesthesia, which makes it painless and avoids discomfort during the examination.

A tissue biopsy is extremely important, as the tissue is subjected to modern pathomorphological diagnostics, with histological, immunohistochemical and molecular genetic studies, this allows not only to make a diagnosis, but also to correctly prescribe treatment.

Once a diagnosis of colon cancer is made, examinations are ordered to determine the extent of its prevalence. Correct determination of the extent of the tumor process (stage) is necessary to select the most appropriate treatment protocol.

These tests include imaging procedures such as CT scans of the abdomen and chest.

2. Magnetic resonance imaging of the pelvic organs. The final scope of the examination is determined by the doctor, based on complaints and the clinical picture of the disease.

3. Clinical blood tests are also performed. A blood test cannot detect colon cancer. But your doctor can test your blood to look for signs of general health problems.

A blood test is performed to look for tumor markers—chemicals sometimes produced by colon cancer cells (carcinoembryonic antigen CA19-9, or CEA). The level of tumor markers monitored over time can also help the doctor assess the prognosis of the disease and understand whether your cancer is responding to treatment.

In some cases, the stage of the tumor can only be determined after surgery to remove colon cancer.

Innovative diagnostic methods used in clinics in Belgium

Virtual colonoscopy (CT colonography) is a method of non-invasive visualization of the mucous membrane of the large intestine by constructing a three-dimensional computer model. Its diagnostic value approaches that of conventional colonoscopy, without causing any discomfort to the patient.

PET-MRI is a hybrid of magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography. The method allows you to obtain a detailed image of the intestine with visualization of areas of abnormally increased metabolism (cancer tumor).

Forecast

The outcome of treatment is influenced by the stage at which the tumor was detected and how high-quality and timely the treatment turned out to be. The prognosis for sigmoid colon cancer diagnosed at stage 1 is very optimistic: the five-year survival rate exceeds 90%. At stage 2, about 80% survive up to five years; for stage 3, the figure does not exceed 30%. Only 8% of patients have a chance of recovery if stage 4 of the disease is diagnosed.

I have personally performed more than 300 laparoscopic operations for colon tumors, the results of which are summarized in a monograph. I regularly conduct seminars and master classes, which are attended by doctors from large clinics and regional hospitals, students of postgraduate education faculties and specialists from foreign centers. Patients from different regions come to our clinic; whether a person needs an examination, wants to discuss treatment options, or is interested in a second opinion - I am always ready to help.

Symptoms of intestinal adenocarcinoma

Colon adenocarcinoma does not have specific manifestations, so it will have general symptoms:

• mucus mixed with blood during bowel movements;
• discomfort and pain that the patient experiences regularly, but most strongly during defecation;
• a feeling that the intestines are not completely emptied, even if the person has just gone to the toilet;
• regular constipation or diarrhea;
• increased weakness, fatigue, general malaise.

The danger is that intestinal adenocarcinoma has manifestations that are very similar, for example, to hemorrhoids. That is, without the participation of a doctor and a thorough diagnosis, it is impossible to detect such a problem. That is why, if any of the listed nonspecific symptoms are detected, you should contact a proctologist.

Treatment of intestinal adenocarcinoma

When intestinal adenocarcinoma is diagnosed, the stages are determined and all the features of the disease are identified, and treatment is prescribed.

Surgical intervention

Once diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, surgery is required in many situations. Most often, if the tumor has affected not only the mucous, but also the submucosal layer of the intestine. If the tumor is small, it is removed through the anus. Also, the operation is performed simultaneously or in stages - the second option is typical for those cases when the invasion of metastases is quite extensive and involves other organs.

Radiation therapy

This method is used before surgery if the tumor has grown through all layers of the intestine or metastases are detected. The course of radiation therapy takes several days, after which surgery is performed. There are also situations when this type of therapy is used for a longer period of time with breaks, and the issue of surgery is decided separately.

Chemotherapy

If intestinal adenocarcinoma is detected at the third or fourth stage, chemotherapy is prescribed as an independent treatment or in combination with radiation therapy. Chemistry is carried out both before and after surgery. In some cases, preventive chemotherapy is required.

If intestinal adenocarcinoma is removed, after the operation you need to stay in the hospital under the supervision of doctors. And after treatment, the patient is observed by a doctor every 6 months for another two years, undergoes tests and examinations. This is necessary in order to avoid relapses and take the necessary measures in time.