As the saying goes, “Nine out of ten men and ten out of ten women have hemorrhoids. This is an exaggeration, but it is enough to show that the incidence of hemorrhoids is very high. The hemorrhoids include internal hemorrhoids and external hemorrhoids, which refer to the varicose veins in the upper and lower rectum on both sides of the anal dentate line (the anatomical structure at the anus), and the varicose veins can rupture and bleed due to friction such as defecation, or form a mass and prolapse, which is painful for the patient. Hemorrhoids generally do not pose a serious health risk to the body, but their presence can easily cause misdiagnosis of other diseases. We often find patients whose rectal cancer is “growing” under the “cover” of hemorrhoids until they are diagnosed with obvious obstructive symptoms. This reminds me of a neighbor who had hemorrhoids a few years ago and often asked me to bring some topical creams from the hospital. Later, when the symptoms worsened and I went to a major hospital, I discovered rectal cancer and it was already at an advanced stage. So I hope that medical workers, hemorrhoid patients and their families must raise awareness of cancer prevention and health care, and never let the similar symptoms of hemorrhoids mask rectal cancer. The most prominent similar symptom between hemorrhoids and rectal cancer is bloody stool, and often the stool is fresh blood. Especially in the early stage of rectal polyps and rectal cancer (late stage tumor bleeding and necrosis may have pus and blood stool), there is no discomfort other than bloody stool, so it is easy to mistake it for hemorrhoids. In addition, rectal polyps or rectal cancer can easily compress the rectal vein, causing obstruction of rectal venous blood return and secondary hemorrhoids. Under the existing medical conditions, some malignant tumors are not terrible, what is terrible is that they cannot be detected early. Many malignant tumors occurring in the colon or rectum, if they can be diagnosed early and treated early, the effect is very satisfactory. Therefore, patients with blood in the stool, whether they have hemorrhoids or not, should go to the hospital regularly and ask their doctors to do rectal or colonoscopy. When you find symptoms such as bloody stools, which are often associated with hemorrhoids, you must consider ruling out other diseases of the intestines. During the treatment of hemorrhoids, if the symptoms do not improve significantly for a long time or if there is recurrent blood in the stool, you should also pay attention to it. Don’t let a small hemorrhoid delay the diagnosis of diseases such as rectal cancer.