Hemorrhoids and rectal cancer are quite different in terms of etiology, pathology, treatment and prognosis, so why should they be discussed together? The reason is that more than 90% of rectal cancer cases are misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids in the early stages. Hemorrhoids are a common clinical rectal-anal disease seen mainly in adults, and their incidence increases with age. The clinical manifestations of hemorrhoids are fresh blood in the stool or a lump prolapsing from the anus. Depending on where it occurs, there are external and internal hemorrhoids. Most hemorrhoids do not require any treatment and do not have much effect on a person’s health. Rectal cancer is a malignant tumor with a high incidence in the gastrointestinal tract and can be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated early. Rectal cancer is easily misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids in the early stage, and such misdiagnosis is either self-misdiagnosis of patients or guesses of medical personnel. The main reason for the high misdiagnosis rate is that there are many similarities between the clinical manifestations of rectal cancer and hemorrhoids, such as blood in stool and increased number of stools. In fact, as long as patients are alert, early detection of rectal cancer is entirely possible. If it can be detected early, the treatment effect of rectal cancer is very good. The author has published some scientific articles on early diagnosis and treatment of rectal cancer in the press, and some patients came to our hospital and found that 5 of them were early rectal cancer after examination. This shows that early detection of rectal cancer is not difficult as long as patients pay attention to it. The difference between hemorrhoids and rectal cancer can be achieved clinically with some simple examinations, and the cost is not high, such as an anal finger examination costs only 2 to 3 yuan, and a fiberoptic sigmoidoscopy does not exceed 100 yuan. In order to detect rectal cancer at an early stage, the author suggests that we should pay attention to the following aspects in our life: 1. Change in bowel habits. Change in bowel habits is the earliest and most common symptom of rectal cancer. Due to the stimulation of cancer, patients may experience an increase in the number of stools or alternating constipation and diarrhea without obvious reasons in a short period of time, and have the feeling of incomplete defecation. With the development of the disease and the increase of the lesion, the cancer may obstruct the rectal outlet, causing constipation, thin or deformed stool, abdominal distension and other symptoms. 2.Change of stool characteristics. The stool may become diluted, blood and mucus in stool. 80%-90% of rectal cancer may have blood in stool, the blood is bright red or dark red, often mixed with mucus or pus. Sometimes the tumor tissues can be seen in the stool, but this is often not the early stage. 3. Early medical consultation. Patients should go to hospital for examination as soon as they find the above symptoms. When visiting the hospital, they should be careful not to easily believe the conclusion drawn by the doctor without examination, such as hemorrhoids or bacillary dysentery. If the doctor does not request an examination, the patient may wish to propose it himself. Generally speaking, rectal finger examination can detect more than 75% of rectal cancers, and simple sigmoidoscopy can detect almost all rectal cancers. 4.Take it seriously. There are many patients who may be shy of examination or afraid of the pain caused by examination and take the checklist after the doctor issued it without examination, thus delaying the time of early detection, and such examples are not uncommon in clinical practice.