Hemorrhoids and rectal cancer both manifest as blood in the stool, so that rectal cancer is often misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids in clinical practice, thus delaying the favorable treatment time for rectal cancer patients and leading to painful lessons. How can we distinguish rectal cancer from hemorrhoids? Hemorrhoid is one of the common benign diseases, which can be divided into internal and external hemorrhoids according to the location of occurrence. The veins of the lower rectum and the anal canal are congested and blood pooled for various reasons, and the pressure is increased or the walls of the veins are weak, resulting in enlargement and varicosity of the veins, forming a venous mass known as a hemorrhoid. The rectum is a 12-15 cm long section of the digestive tract within the anus and is directly connected to the anus at the end. Cancer occurring here is a common malignant tumor in the gastrointestinal tract, second only to stomach cancer and esophageal cancer in incidence. Rectal cancer can be cured by early detection and timely treatment; however, it can be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated early. The majority of rectal cancer patients are above 40 years old, about 15% are under 30 years old, and men are more common than women, and Chinese rectal cancer mostly occurs in the middle and lower rectum. In recent years, with the improvement of people’s living standard and the increase of high protein and high fat food intake, the incidence of colorectal cancer is gradually increasing. Blood in stool, increased frequency of stool and thinning of stool are the common symptoms of rectal cancer. Since the sites of hemorrhoids and rectal cancer are similar and the most common symptom of both is blood in stool, clinical diagnosis is often confused when some symptoms cross or are atypical. And wrong diagnosis is not rare, especially when two diseases coexist, after examination and discovery of hemorrhoids, it is limited to the treatment of hemorrhoids without comprehensive examination, which can not arrive at a comprehensive and correct diagnosis, and may delay the diagnosis of rectal cancer and miss the best time for treatment. How to differentiate rectal cancer and hemorrhoids? 1. Blood in stool This symptom is common to both diseases, especially for internal hemorrhoids, where the hemorrhoids themselves cannot be seen on the body surface, thus becoming the main reason affecting the differentiation of these two diseases. The blood in the stool of hemorrhoid patients is mostly dripping down with the discharge of the stool, so it does not mix with the stool, and there is no mucus present, so it is usually blood on the surface of the stool and blood on the hand paper after the stool. The color of blood in stool is mostly bright red. The bleeding of rectal cancer is because the surface of the tumor itself breaks down and bleeds or oozes blood continuously. Therefore, the color of blood is mostly dark red or jam color, and even the blood in stool turns black after a long time. At the same time, because rectal cancer destroys the rectal mucosa and produces mucus secretion, as well as secondary local infection and pus, the stool itself also carries mucus and pus, the latter is also called pus and blood stool. 2. Age of onset In the age of onset, the characteristics of the two diseases are also very different. Hemorrhoids may occur in people of any age, while patients with rectal cancer are mostly middle-aged (>40 years old) or elderly. 3. Accompanying symptoms Hemorrhoids blood in the stool is mostly painless, intermittent, and sometimes there are lumps (venous masses) prolapsing from the anus. For prolapsed hemorrhoids, finger pressure is soft and, like veins in other parts of the body, can be squashed or pushed back into the anus. If an internal hemorrhoid prolapses for a long time, it can become painful and hard, due to the formation of a blood clot within the varicose vein mass. As a solid tumor, rectal cancer is fixed in position and hard in texture, and usually does not appear to prolapse out of the anus. However, because of the fixed growth of rectal cancer in the rectum, it will lead to stiffness and pressure on the rectal wall, resulting in increased frequency of stool, anal swelling, urgency and heaviness, and bowel movement soon after defecation, but no or only a small amount of stool; further growth will also lead to narrowing of the rectal lumen and even partial blockage of the rectum, resulting in difficulty in defecation and thinning of stool, etc. A few patients will also experience abdominal pain and bloating due to rectal obstruction. A few patients may also experience abdominal pain and bloating due to rectal obstruction. In contrast, hemorrhoids will rarely cause these symptoms. When rectal cancer reaches advanced stage, it will also cause frequent urination, abdominal pain and pelvic pain due to tumor invasion of surrounding tissues and organs, etc. When tumor consumes human body for a long time, it will cause anemia, weight loss and fatigue, etc.