Malignant tumors that originate from the mucosal epithelium of the large intestine are called colorectal cancer. It is one of the most common malignant tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Clinical manifestations include bloody stool or mucopurulent stool, change in stool shape or habit, abdominal pain, abdominal mass, etc. The clinical manifestations of colorectal cancer often have their own special characteristics according to the different sites of occurrence. Colorectal cancer has insidious onset, no obvious clinical manifestations in early stage, slow development, better long-term efficacy than other gastrointestinal malignant tumors, and relatively good prognosis; however, the incidence of colorectal cancer is high and has a rising trend year after year.
I. Risk factors causing colorectal cancer.
1, dietary factors such as high fat diet, low fiber diet, animal protein, high content of nitrosamines and their derivatives in food; intake of alcohol, vitamin A and trace element deficiency, etc.
2, certain benign lesions of the large intestine such as chronic ulcerative colitis, colonic adenoma and familial colonic adenomatosis, schistosomiasis, etc.
3, genetic factors such as familial adenomatous polyposis, hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, etc.
II. What are the symptoms?
1.The early lesions of colorectal cancer are limited to mucous membrane, which may be asymptomatic or only have changes in bowel habits. When the tumor grows to a certain extent, blood in stool will appear, which is mostly light in color and adheres to the surface of stool.
2. mucus stool and pus blood.
3. change of defecation habit.
4.abdominal pain and bloating The clinical manifestations commonly seen in colorectal cancer patients include abdominal pain and abdominal bloating. Among them, the incidence of abdominal pain is higher than that of abdominal distension. The nature of pain can be divided into hidden pain, dull pain and colic.
Common complications.
1.Intestinal obstruction
The enlargement of tumor may cause narrowing of intestinal lumen and obstruction of intestinal contents, resulting in mechanical intestinal obstruction.
2.Intestinal perforation
There are typical clinical manifestations of acute abdomen, abdominal muscle tension, pressure pain, rebound pain, and crescentic free gas under the septum as seen in X-ray plain film, which can make preliminary diagnosis.
3.Hemorrhage
Acute hemorrhage is a rare complication of colorectal cancer.
Conventional treatment
The main treatment for colorectal cancer is surgical treatment. Any tumor that can be surgically removed should be surgically removed as long as the patient can tolerate the surgery. Even for some cases with distant metastasis, the primary foci should be removed to solve the problems of obstruction and bleeding that may occur. In addition to surgical treatment, Chinese medicine and radiotherapy and chemotherapy also play an important role in the treatment of colorectal cancer.
V. High-risk groups of colorectal cancer.
1.People over 40 years old who consume a lot of high fat and high protein for a long time.
2.Persons in the family who have suffered from colorectal cancer and tumor polyps
3.Persons with altered bowel habits
4.Persons with tumor polyp of the large intestine
5.Patients with blood in the stool.
What factors are related to the prognosis?
The factors affecting the prognosis mainly depend on the biological characteristics and pathological type of the tumor. In addition, most of the young patients have poor prognosis, female patients have better prognosis than male patients, symptomatic patients have poorer prognosis than asymptomatic patients, and those with complications such as lower gastrointestinal bleeding, intestinal obstruction and intestinal perforation have poor prognosis.
7.Living tips for colon cancer prevention
Actively treat precancerous lesions, reduce the intake of high-fat, fried and moldy foods, and eat more fresh vegetables, fruits and foods with high fiber and vitamins. If there is blood stool, mucus stool, stool habit and shape change, further examination should be conducted to clarify the diagnosis as soon as possible and treat as soon as possible.