Colon cancer is a malignant tumor that occurs in the colon. It is one of the common tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. The cause is not yet completely clear. It is closely related to heredity, disease, and living habits. In recent years, the incidence rate has increased significantly.

Most early-stage colon cancers cause no obvious discomfort. In the late stages, symptoms such as blood in the stool or black stools, abdominal pain, abdominal masses, anemia, and changes in bowel habits may occur. As the disease progresses, cancer cells can metastasize throughout the body, causing various clinical manifestations.

Common Clinical Manifestations of Colon Cancer

Most patients with early-stage colon cancer have no obvious discomfort and are mostly discovered during colonoscopy. As the disease progresses, the following typical symptoms often occur: abdominal pain, changes in defecation habits and fecal properties, and some patients may also feel lumps in the abdomen. In the late stages, anemia, low-grade fever, fatigue, weight loss, edema, and other systemic symptoms may occur.

• Changes in defecation habits: manifested by increased bowel movements, diarrhea, constipation, or alternating occurrences of both.
• Changes in feces properties: Feces become deformed or thin, with blood, pus, or mucus in the feces.
• Abdominal pain: often manifested as abdominal distension or persistent dull pain, and the specific location of the pain is unclear.
• Abdominal masses: Most of the masses are hard and nodular in texture, often pushable, and can change position with changes in body posture.
• Symptoms of intestinal obstruction: generally symptoms of mid-to-late stage colon cancer, mainly manifesting as abdominal distension and pain or paroxysmal cramps. When complete obstruction occurs, symptoms worsen.
• Systemic symptoms: Due to the chronic consumption of tumors, symptoms such as anemia, weight loss, fatigue, and fever may occur. Symptoms such as jaundice, edema, and ascites may also occur in the late stage.

What Causes Colon Cancer?

The etiology and pathogenesis of colon cancer are not fully understood. Research has found that it is mainly closely related to gastrointestinal diseases, genetics, living habits, etc.

• Gastrointestinal diseases: Gastrointestinal diseases such as colon polyposis, colon adenoma, ulcerative colitis, villous adenoma, colonic schistosomiasis granuloma, and other gastrointestinal diseases result in abnormal cell growth and differentiation due to long-term inflammatory stimulation. These increase the risk of colon cancer.
• Genetic factors: People with first-degree relatives (parents, siblings, children) who have colon cancer have a risk of colon cancer that is 2 to 4 times higher than that of ordinary people. Diseases such as familial polyposis and Lynch syndrome are also high-risk factors.
• Lifestyle habits: Unhealthy lifestyles such as unreasonable dietary nutritional structure, lack of exercise, smoking, and drinking may cause colon cancer.

Colon Cancer Treatment

The current mainstream methods of colon cancer treatment include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy:

• Surgical treatment: As long as patients can undergo surgery, they should still choose surgical treatment if their physical condition allows. Surgical resection includes the removal of the primary tumor and the removal of lymph nodes around the colon where the tumor is located. Surgical resection combined with chemotherapy may be a curable means. Usually, multiple distant metastases are no longer suitable for surgical treatment, but liver and lung metastases that can be completely removed and ensure the normal function of the remaining organs can also be surgically removed. The above two kinds of surgeries are aimed at the radical cure of tumors, and the other kind of surgery is palliative surgery, which is mainly used for bleeding, perforation, etc. of tumors to relieve symptoms.
• Chemotherapy: Most patients after surgery also need chemotherapy, which is a supplement to surgery. In addition, patients with distant metastases who cannot be operated on, or whose physical condition does not allow surgery, should also receive comprehensive treatment including chemotherapy. Preoperative chemotherapy can increase the chance of radical resection of tumors or metastases, and postoperative chemotherapy can reduce the risk of recurrence and metastasis.
• Radiotherapy: Through the focusing of radiation, the pathological tissue of tumor cells is destroyed, and the tumor cells are killed. It is usually combined with surgery, chemotherapy, and other treatments.
• Targeted therapy: Targeted drugs are used to identify and kill cancer cells in a targeted manner. They are usually used in combination with chemotherapy to increase the efficacy.

Things to Note in Daily Life for Colon Cancer Patients

• Surgical patients need to keep the incision clean and dry and change dressings in time to avoid wound infection.
• People who lack physical activity should increase their daily exercise to promote gastrointestinal motility and prevent constipation.
• Observe the shape of the stool every day to see if there is blood in the stool. If so, please seek medical treatment promptly.
• Take medicine as directed by your doctor, have regular check-ups, and seek medical attention promptly if there are any abnormalities.

Colon Cancer Prevention

Since the cause of colon cancer is not fully understood, the risk can only be reduced by avoiding risk factors:

• Develop good eating habits, eat more foods rich in vitamins and dietary fiber, and eat a low-fat diet (less fatty meats and fried foods) to ensure balanced nutrition.
• Stop smoking and drinking, actively exercise, control your weight, avoid staying up late, balance work and rest, and maintain a good work and rest routine.
• People at high risk of colon cancer should pay attention to regular physical examinations and do not refuse colonoscopy out of fear, especially those with a family history.
• Actively treat existing intestinal diseases to prevent disease-induced colon cancer.

Conclusion

At present, the mainstream methods of colon cancer treatment include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, etc. The prognosis of colon cancer is closely related to the clinical stage. Early colon cancer has hope of a cure, but the mortality and recurrence rate of late colon cancer are significantly higher.