Colon Cancer: Overview, Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment

Overview

Colon cancer is a kind of cancer, which is seen originating over the colon or rectum of human body. As per the reports of American Cancer Society, every single person out of 20 people in their lifetime develop the colon cancer and every year more than 100,000 new colon cases are reported all around the world to doctors or hospital. One can treat colon cancer provided he or she is able to diagnose at the initial stage, however, most of the time, people end up getting about the same only when it reaches to the advance stage. This simply complicates the cases, making different routes to counter the menace. Let’s check the causes, diagnosis and the treatment option for colon cancer as under:

Causes of Colon Cancer

Unlike any other cancer, the exact cause to the colon cancer is yet to be discovered. However, as per the doctors, most of the time these are caused when the healthy cells become abnormal, which further brings this issue of colon cancer in human body. The following are the usual causes of colon cancer:

• Precancerous Growths: In most of the cases, the abnormal cells are seen accumulating and generating polyps, which further becomes cancerous if remains untreated.
• Gene Mutations: If you have a family history of colon cancer and it can pass on to the next generation via gene mutation owing to heredity. Though in most of the cases they do not turn to cancer, yet there are chances for the same. These types of cancers do not pose any special symptoms in the earlier stages; however, there are some in the higher stages, which is a separate issue to deal with.

Diagnosis of Colon Cancer

The presence of colon cancer can be diagnosed in various ways, however, it doesn’t show any kind of early symptoms when these remain in the primitive stage. The early you are able to diagnose the menace the better would be the result at the end of the day by the doctor dealing with it. The doctors take resort in the following tests and options for diagnosing this menace. Let’s check them out:

• Blood Test: Blood gives the presence of colon cancer in patient’s body.
• Colonoscopy: It involves using a camera via a long tube inside your body to the colon along with taking out certain tissues to confirm the presence of colon cancer.
• X Ray: It gives the insight about the colon and rectum position along with conditions, which indicate the presence of colon cancer.
• CT Scan: It helps in finding the best image of your colon, which further helps in finding the best picture of colon cancer.

Treatment Options for Colon Cancer

The treatment of colon cancer can be carried out in the following four ways, which will depend upon the stage of the cancer along with other conditions.

• Surgery: The treatment of surgery will depend upon the stage of colon cancer you have. For instance in the early stage, you can get rid of the polyp found in the colon area using colonoscopy. However, in case the cancer has spread to the other organs like rectum, the surgeon then clubs with other procedures along with surgery to get rid of the menace. This can include the therapies like chemo wherein the cells with cancer are destroyed that are unable to remove using any surgery.
• Chemotherapy: In this procedure, as said above, the cancerous cells are destroyed, which fails to get flushed out using the surgeries. This procedure is often used to regulate the growth of the cancerous tumour along with giving the necessary relief from the cancerous symptoms.
• Radiation: If nothing works then using powerful X ray via radiation therapy, the cancerous cells are destroyed after the surgery. This is generally used along with chemo.
• Medication: There are certain medicines, which are used to treat the colon cancer provided you have tried the other options. Using special drugs can help in blocking the enzymes, which promote the cancer cell growth.