What is Colon Cancer?

What is Colon Cancer?
Colon cancer or colorectal cancer, as the name suggests, affects the colon, a part of the digestive system where the waste material is stored. Tumors of the colon and rectum are growths arising from the inner walls of the large intestine. Benign tumors of the large intestine are called polyps while malignant tumors are cancers. If benign polyps are not removed from the large intestine, they can become malignant over time. Colorectal cancer can invade and damage adjacent tissues and organs. The spread of the colon cancer to distant organs is known as the metastasis of the colon cancer and once metastasis occurs, a complete cure is unlikely.

What is Colon Cancer?


Colon cancer comes in different stages. The first stage includes the earliest symptoms an onslaught of the disease. Stage 4 means malignant cells have spread to other parts of the body. A person might be in the first stage of the disease and receive medical care that would hopefully help to heal it early on. Unfortunately, as the stages of tumor progress, treatments for colon cancer get harder to obtain and see a significant change in getting better. Colon cancer treatment options are constantly improving and changing as doctors learn more and more about this disease

What is Colon Cancer?


Colon cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers for both men and women in the Untied States. It is important that you understand your risk for developing this disease, as well as lifestyle changes you can make now to reduce your chances of falling victim to colon cancer.

What is Colon Cancer?


Colon cancer is the #2 cause of cancer death in American men and women. Once you’re over 50, your lifetime chance of getting this is one in twenty. That’s high! In individuals with a family history of colon cancer or other conditions, the risk starts to go up at age 40, and so screening starts then. Probably 90 percent of colon cancer could be prevented by screening. The physicians of Triangle Gastroenterology are experts at colonoscopy, which is the most accurate means of prevention available.