After the age of 50, people often complain that they have a bowel pain. Cancer may be the cause. As doctors note, the disease usually occurs in older people.
The treatment tactics are influenced by various data, in particular the stages
of bowel cancer, symptoms, concomitant diseases, patient age, tumor size and location, etc.
Causes of occurrence
Quite often, doctors cannot indicate why the intestines are affected. Cancer can be the result of either one or a combination of many reasons. Factors that are harmful to health and can cause the appearance of oncology of this type are:
- Chronic diseases of the digestive system in general and the intestines in particular. This is primarily inflammation of the walls of the intestine, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease.
- Nutrition. Fatty foods and preservatives are especially harmful.
- Age. According to statistics, 9 out of 10 people with bowel cancer are over 50 years old.
- Diabetes.
- A sedentary lifestyle that leads to stagnation of food and its fermentation.
- Genetic predisposition.
- Obesity.
- Polyps and adenomas.
- Alcohol.
Symptoms
Depending on which section of the intestine is damaged, cancer can manifest with various symptoms. In the early stages, the disease rarely makes itself felt. The first symptoms that patients most often notice are:
- blood in feces (it can also be in a latent form, that is, it is invisible in appearance, but found in the analysis of feces);
- nausea;
- vomiting
- diarrhea or constipation;
- dizziness;
- belching;
- fever;
- fever;
- anemia;
- loss of appetite;
- dull abdominal pain (in almost 90% of cases);
- dry mouth
- bloating.
In addition to the above symptoms, there may be others, because intestinal oncology removes not only one organ from work, but also damages entire body systems. That is why the disease can be accompanied by jaundice, headache, chest discomfort and even coughing.
Diagnostics
Patient complaints allow the doctor to assess the situation and prescribe the necessary diagnostic methods. First of all, the patient must pass a blood test for CEA (the antigen that is produced by the tumor) and a fecal blood test . Sigmoidoscopy allows a good examination of the intestines. Cancer can be detected using fibrocolonoscopy, using which, neoplasm tissue samples are also taken for analysis. It is possible to remove polyps and diagnose the disease through colonoscopy. Actually, today this diagnostic method is used most often.
How to overcome?
The treatment of bowel cancer is carried out mainly by surgery. It is most effective. Modern medicine allows the operation to be performed in the early stages using endoscopy, and the abdominal cavity is not cut. The effectiveness of treatment in this case is 97%. If the organ is more affected, it is necessary to remove the tumor itself, and healthy surrounding tissues, as well as the nearest lymph nodes. In addition, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are also used to treat the disease.