Hemorrhoids and rectal cancer are quite different in terms of etiology, pathology, treatment and prognosis, so why should they be discussed together? The reason is that more than 90% of rectal cancer cases are misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids in the early stages. Hemorrhoids are a clinically common rectal-anal disorder seen mainly in adults, and their incidence increases with age. The clinical manifestations of hemorrhoids are fresh blood in the stool or a lump prolapsing from the anus. Depending on where it occurs, there are external and internal hemorrhoids. Most asymptomatic hemorrhoids do not require any treatment and do not have much effect on a person’s health. Rectal cancer is a malignant tumor with a high incidence in the gastrointestinal tract and can be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated early. Rectal cancer is easily misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids in the early stage, and such misdiagnosis is either self-misdiagnosis of patients or guesses of medical personnel. The main reason for the high misdiagnosis rate is that there are many similarities between the clinical manifestations of rectal cancer and hemorrhoids, such as blood in stool and increased number of stools. In fact, as long as patients are alert, early detection of rectal cancer is entirely possible. If it can be detected early, the treatment effect of rectal cancer is very good. Distinguish between hemorrhoids and rectal cancer even in primary care institutions clinically only some simple examinations can be done and the cost is not high, such as anal finger examination, sigmoidoscopy, taking biopsy and sending it for disease examination. In order to detect rectal cancer at an early stage, the author suggests that we should pay attention to the following aspects in our life 1.Change in bowel habit. Change in bowel habits is the earliest and most common symptom of rectal cancer. Due to the stimulation of cancer, patients may experience an increase in the number of stools or alternating constipation and diarrhea with no obvious reason in a short period of time, and have the feeling of incomplete defecation. With the development of the disease and the increase of the lesion, the cancer may block the rectal outlet, causing constipation, thin or deformed stool, abdominal distension and other symptoms. 2.Change of stool characteristics. The stool may become diluted, blood and mucus in stool. 80%-90% of rectal cancer may have blood in stool, which is bright red or dark red and may be mixed with mucus or pus. Early fecal occult blood examination is also of certain value. Sometimes, the detached tumor tissue can be seen in the stool, but it is often not early stage at that time. 3. Early medical consultation. Once patients find the above symptoms, they should go to the hospital immediately for examination and do not think they have hemorrhoids or bacillary dysentery. Generally speaking, anal finger examination can detect more than 75% of rectal cancers, and simple sigmoidoscopy can detect almost all rectal cancers. 4.Take it seriously. Many patients may be shy of examination or afraid of the pain caused by examination, so they take the endoscopy checklist after it is issued by the doctor and do not do the examination, thus delaying the time of early detection, and such examples are not uncommon in clinical practice.