Because of the common symptom of “blood in stool”, many colon cancer patients are in the dark and wishfully think they are just having a common hemorrhoid attack. “I only have blood in my stool once in a while, so it should just be hemorrhoids, how can it be colon cancer?” Many bowel cancer patients can’t believe it when they get their test results. Hemorrhoids and colorectal cancer are two very different diseases, but because of the common symptom of “blood in stool”, many colorectal cancer patients are in the dark and wishfully think that they are just ordinary hemorrhoid attacks. According to a survey data, the incidence of colon cancer in China has increased significantly in recent years, resulting in the second highest mortality rate of cancer deaths. Moreover, there is an obvious trend of low age, which has a lot to do with the low diagnosis rate of early bowel cancer in China, more than 80% of bowel cancer patients are already in the middle and late stages when diagnosed! Bowel cancer symptoms There are no obvious symptoms in early stage of bowel cancer, so it is often not taken seriously by patients. In the later stage, it is mainly manifested as change of bowel habit, constipation, diarrhea, blood in stool, abdominal pain and distension, intestinal obstruction and other gastrointestinal symptoms and systemic manifestations such as anemia, weakness, fatigue and fever. Blood in stool is a common symptom of colorectal cancer, but it is not a specific symptom. Blood in stool can occur in many anorectal diseases, such as hemorrhoids, anal fissure, rectal colon polyps, enteritis, etc. It may also be a manifestation of systemic diseases in the digestive tract, so many people mistake blood in stool of colorectal cancer as hemorrhoids, which delays the best treatment time. Blood in stool, hemorrhoid or bowel cancer? 1. Rectal cancer blood in stool is persistent, chronic bloody stool with mucus, dark red blood, usually mixed with feces, frequent bowel movements, and sometimes only some blood or mucus is relieved without feces. If the cancer tumor is farther from the anus, the lower the incidence of blood in stool, about 80% of rectal cancer patients have blood in stool. Hemorrhoid blood in stool is most commonly bright red blood, not mixed with stool but attached to the surface of stool, or manifested as blood dripping before stool, or in severe cases in the form of jets, which occurs when there is much constipation; 2. Hemorrhoid does not cause difficulty in defecation, especially thin stool, even if the nucleus of hemorrhoid is prolapsed, it is also manifested as short-term reluctance to force stool due to painful defecation, which can return to normal once the edema and inflammation subsides. In contrast, some rectal cancer patients have difficulty in defecation and thin stool, accompanied by abdominal distension and abdominal pain in the early stage. Bowel cancer screening is very important Long night life, irregular diet, overeating and drinking alcohol can also directly or indirectly induce the occurrence of bowel cancer, and these lifestyles are usually found in young people, which leads to the young trend of such diseases. However, colorectal cancer is a preventable cancer. Because the process of changing from normal mucosa to colorectal cancer is very slow, the early disease bump is often a small protrusion on the intestinal mucosa, and 70% to 80% of this bump will turn into polyps and then slowly malignant into cancer. Each change has enough time and corresponding methods for treatment, and the path of bowel cancer evolution can be cut off if it is cured, therefore, it is very important to carry out bowel cancer screening. Targeted examination is the best way to exclude anal and intestinal diseases. If patients have blood in stool for many times, they should go to hospital for intestinal related examination as early as possible. Generally due to unexplained blood in stool, anemia, or change in bowel habits, as well as those with lumps in the abdomen, professional anorectoscopy must be performed.