March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month

Colon Cancer is the third most common cancer in both men and women. This year the American Cancer Society estimates there will be 145, 000 new cases causing 53,000 deaths in the United States. About 4% of men and women will develop colon cancer in their lifetimes. For persons over the age of 55 years, both the number of cases and the deaths from colon cancer have been dropping. This improvement is due to improved screening and lifestyle changes.

Recent studies show that for persons under age 55 years, the number of cases has increased by 2% per year and deaths from colon cancer have been increasing by 1% per year.

Lifestyle-related risk factors for colon cancer include smoking, drinking alcohol, being overweight or obese, not being physically active and eating a diet that contains a large amount of red meat or processed meat. Addressing these issues will have beneficial effects on your overall health and not just in reducing the risk of colon cancer.

Medical conditions like type 2 diabetes, a personal or family history of colon polyps or inflammatory bowel disorders each increases the risk of colon cancer.

Colon cancer may cause no symptoms in its early stages. Symptoms that may indicate the presence of colon cancer include: a change in bowel habits that lasts more than a few days (constipation, diarrhea or narrowing of the stool), blood in your stool, abdominal cramping, weakness and fatigue or unintended weight loss.

Screening for colon cancer is recommended starting at age 45 years and continuing through age 75 years. Persons at high risk – due to family history of colon cancer or polyps, or a personal history of polyps, inflammatory bowel disease or radiation to the abdomen – may need screening at a younger age.

Some tests look for blood in the stool (guaiac test or fecal immunochemical test). These should be done annually. There are also tests that look for evidence of DNA from cancer cells in the stool (multitargeted stool DNA test). If negative, this test should be repeated every 3 years. The stool samples are collected at home using a kit from your healthcare provider.

Colonoscopy is a visual inspection of the interior of the colon using a flexible instrument. This test is generally done every ten years. This is a medical procedure that requires special preparation and sedation. It has the advantage of not only identifying polyps and potential cancers but of being able to remove polyps and take biopsies of worrisome lesions to see if they are cancers.

Federal law requires both Medicare and private insurance to cover the cost of colon cancer screening tests starting at age 50 years.

Treatment begins with surgery to remove the cancer and stage the disease – determine its spread in the body. The stage is determined by the characteristics of the primary tumor, presence of disease in lymph node and spread of the cancer elsewhere – most often live and lungs. Oncologists coordinate treatment of colon cancer through chemotherapy and radiation therapy.