Symptoms of recurrence after surgery for bowel cancer and time to recurrence

If there is recurrence of bowel cancer after surgery, patients may have abdominal pain, lose weight, or have frequent stools or stools with blood or black stools, etc. Generally, recurrence is more likely to occur within 1-2 years after surgery, so it is suggested that patients should go to the hospital for checkups every three months for the first two years after surgery, that is to say, checkups should be carried out more frequently, and if there is no recurrence within two years, then it is generally necessary to go to the hospital for checkups every six months between three to five years. If there is no recurrence within 2 years, patients are generally required to go to the hospital for examination every 6 months between 3-5 years. There are more locations of recurrence after bowel cancer surgery, such as recurrence of retroperitoneal lymph nodes, recurrence of anastomosis or distant metastasis of tumor, such as liver metastasis or lung metastasis, etc. Usually, it is necessary to do abdominal and pelvic enhancement CT examination every six months, which focuses on understanding whether there is the possibility of metastasis of lymph nodes or distant metastasis, and also it is necessary to do enteroscopy every year, which focuses on understanding whether there is the possibility of tumor recurrence in the anastomosis as well as inside of the whole colon. Recurrence.