Rectal cancer can be judged as late stage or early stage by clinical symptoms, as well as tumor infiltration and metastasis.
Patients with early stage of rectal cancer usually do not have obvious symptoms, and only when the tumor affects defecation and the tumor breaks down and bleeds in the later stage, they will show symptoms such as frequent stool, blood in stool, mucus stool, anal pain and so on.
Generally speaking, rectal cancer requires colonoscopy to observe the location, size and shape of the tumor, as well as ultrasound, enhanced CT, enhanced MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and other examinations to determine the staging. In general, if the tumor is small, the degree of infiltration is not obvious, and there is no metastasis from other parts of the body, it is usually in the early stage.
If the tumor infiltrates the intestinal wall deeply and there are metastases in the lymph nodes, or metastases in distant tissues such as the liver or lungs, the tumor is mostly in the advanced stage. In addition, the stage of the disease can also be clarified by removing a small part of the diseased tissue.
Patients are advised to go to the hospital as early as possible to determine the status of the disease and actively cooperate with the doctor’s treatment in order to prolong the survival period and improve the prognosis.