Few diseases cause such strong fear in a population as cancer. And no wonder, because this disease is fatal, and treatment is very expensive. In recent years, science and medicine have made great progress, inventing more and more new drugs and methods to fight cancer, but the cancer diagnosis still sounds like a sentence. The worst thing is that no one is safe from this disease.
Tumors in the digestive tract occupy a special place among cancer in women. Including bowel cancer, the first symptoms of which practically do not manifest themselves. How does this disease begin, and what precedes the onset of a tumor? What do doctors say and how dangerous is it? Let's figure it out.
Cancer nature
Our body consists of innumerable microscopic cells that perform certain functions. Normally, cells divide, live and die, and new ones develop instead. For example, the lining of the stomach is renewed every 4 days, which is an absolutely normal process.
Sometimes it happens that under the influence of certain factors, some cells begin to divide at an unusual rate, as a result of which the body loses control over them and ceases to recognize them. The fight with them as such does not occur.
But the worst thing is that these newly formed cells do not die, as it should be, but continue to live and multiply further. This is the nature of the onset of tumors that is being studied by oncology.
Small bowel cancer
With cancer of the small intestine, the glandular tissue of the intestine, its mucous membrane, is affected. So a tumor arises, which grows over time and penetrates into neighboring organs. Alas, bowel cancer, the symptoms and manifestation of which are visible only at the 3-4 stages, is very dangerous for the body, and it is not easy to notice it at the beginning of the disease.
According to statistics, small bowel cancer is extremely rare. Against the background of other cancers, this disease affects no more than 2% of cancer patients. 80% of cancer of the small intestine occurs in the elderly, but the remaining 20% for young people is too much.
In women, a variety of this cancer is extremely rare. This disease is most common in older men, whose age has already crossed the 60-year mark. The reasons for this phenomenon remain unclear, perhaps here it lies in the structural features of the female body.
Types of neoplasms in the small intestine
Small intestine cancer can occur in the form of:
● adenocarcinomas;
● sarcomas;
● carcinoid;
● lymphomas.
Most often, small intestine cancer, the symptoms of which appear only after a certain time, can occur in the form of adenocarcinoma, which is a lesion of the glandular tissue of the intestine. A carcenoid is very rare, it accounts for about 3% of cancers.
Most often, this ailment affects people in developing Asian countries. In highly developed countries, intestinal cancer in women is much less common - statistics say that such cases are observed only among old people.
Bowel cancer symptoms
Cancer is a rather insidious disease, so at the initial stages it practically does not manifest itself. Up to a year, the patient may not feel any changes in the body at all. Signs begin to appear when the tumor has spread to neighboring organs. Symptoms of bowel cancer in women are as follows:
• Bowel problems with bloating, obstruction, abdominal pain, and upset stools.
• Unreasonable weight loss. If you have bowel cancer, the first symptoms may appear in strange weight loss.
• Yellowing of proteins and skin.
• Decreased appetite.
• Bleeding in the intestines, which is quite rare, with sarcoma.
These symptoms indicate that you should immediately visit a doctor and pass all the necessary tests. Symptoms of intestinal cancer in women in the early stages are manifested by a reduced hemoglobin in the blood and impaired liver function. However, such signs are detected only as a result of analyzes.
Stage of small bowel cancer
Cancer, in principle, is a long and complex process that goes through several stages of development. Each stage has its own characteristic differences. There are 4 in total.
1st stage. This is the initial stage of the disease, which lasts quite a while. Over a period of about 5 years, the tumor grows to 2 cm in diameter and is not yet spread to the lymph nodes and nearby organs.
2 stage. The tumor exceeds 2 cm in size and spread to one lymph node. At this stage, small bowel cancer is only emerging, its symptoms are not yet fully manifested.
3 stage. It is characterized by a large formation in the intestine and metastases in the lymph nodes. At this stage, cancer becomes very dangerous, and it becomes difficult to cure the patient.
4 stage. The tumor has passed to neighboring organs and has a large number of metastases. Malignant cells divide at a frantic pace, the disease itself is progressing.
The danger is that in the first two stages a person in no way feels a change in his health. Cancer in such cases can only be diagnosed during surgery or by x-ray.
Causes of small bowel cancer
The causes of the disease include:
• alcohol abuse and smoking;
• frequent use of carcinogenic food;
• chronic inflammatory processes in the intestine;
• ulcerative colitis;
• Crohn's disease;
• celiac disease;
• radiation;
• Peitz-Yegers syndrome;
• pathological processes associated with the production of enzymes of the gastrointestinal tract;
• genetic disorders;
• metastases in the small intestine.
The risk group consists of people who previously suffered from cancer, people who are genetically predisposed to cancer, and, as already noted, the elderly.
Cancer diagnosis
Diagnostics is carried out using various methods using special equipment. Symptoms of bowel cancer in women in the initial stages can be manifested by pale skin caused by low hemoglobin. The tumor itself can only be detected by ultrasound. Tests may show a slight abnormality in the white blood cell count.
In later stages, a cancerous tumor can be detected by palpation. It is characterized by a tuberous form, and can take the form of a flat ulcer or a cup-shaped form. As a rule, cancer is detected by palpation at the third stage. At the 4th stage, you can see intestinal cancer with the naked eye, the symptoms and manifestation of which are experienced by an experienced doctor.
To diagnose cancer of the small intestine:
• computed tomography;
• magnetic resonance;
• fibrogastroscopy;
• angiography of blood vessels;
• laparoscopy;
• radiology;
• biopsy;
• colonoscopy.
All of these methods are used to diagnose cancer in the small intestine. However, sometimes it’s enough for doctors to apply only some of them to fully see and evaluate the tumor in the abdominal cavity.
Small bowel cancer
Surgery is still considered the most popular and effective cancer control method. In the early stages, surgery successfully fights the disease, and the survival rate is very high.
In the later stages, in addition to the operation, chemotherapy is also necessary, which consists in administering various drugs to the patient through injections or droppers. Chemotherapy inhibits cell growth and fights their reproduction.
Sometimes radiation therapy is also used, which can directly affect the site of a cancerous tumor. The peculiarity of the method is that if radiation does not kill malignant cells, then it has the most negative effect on them.
These two methods have a lot of side effects that adversely affect patients. Nevertheless, they have a right to exist and are widely used in modern medicine.
Recently, folk remedies for the fight against cancer have been very widely advertised. You should know that this is pure fraud and taking some herbs, you just wasted time. Cancer needs to be fought through official medicine. Only in this way will you be sure of the correct treatment.
Unfortunately, the symptoms of intestinal cancer in women are very unpredictable, however, as noted earlier, the most common and early sign of the disease is pallor of the skin. Therefore, even with such a minor ailment, you should immediately go to the doctor. Remember that detecting and curing cancer in the early stages is much easier than after the disease has progressed to the point of no return.