Most patients with “diarrhea” as the main symptom have general inflammatory bowel disease, dyspepsia, and bacillary dysentery. In a few of these patients, diarrhea that persists for a long time may be due to malignant tumors. It is worth noting that most of the patients with tumor-induced diarrhea are mistaken for general gastrointestinal diseases and are paralyzed, thus losing valuable treatment opportunities.
Patients think that “diarrhea” is caused by general intestinal diseases or cold, unhygienic food, etc. Therefore, they often purchase their own medications for home treatment. Some doctors who lack clinical experience also prescribe medication for diseases such as “enteritis”, which results in delaying the disease and delaying it again and again. Therefore, we must pay attention to find out the cause of the disease, and never just anti-inflammatory diarrhea to stop the matter.
In fact, malignant tumors in the digestive system, especially in the gastrointestinal tract, such as stomach, colon and rectal cancers, are very prone to diarrhea. However, this type of cancer is easy to attract people’s attention and the misdiagnosis rate is generally not high.
What is most confusing is diarrhea caused by tumors in other parts of the body, which is not easy to be alerted.
Today, we will briefly sort out several tumors that may be related to long-term diarrhea.
1.Colorectal cancer: Constipation and diarrhea are very common in daily life, and these two symptoms may also be signals of intestinal cancer.
Colorectal cancer includes colon cancer and rectal cancer, which are mostly related to chronic inflammation of colon, colorectal adenoma, high fat and low fiber diet, genetics and genes, etc. Early symptoms of colorectal cancer are usually not obvious, and with the development of cancer, patients will gradually appear symptoms such as abdominal pain, stool bleeding, intestinal obstruction and abdominal mass.
Changes in bowel habits and stool traits are important indicators for early detection of rectal and colorectal cancer.
As the tumor and its secretions stimulate the intestinal tract, it may cause people who originally have regular bowel movements to suddenly become frequent or significantly reduce the number of bowel movements, alternating constipation and diarrhea, morning diarrhea, etc., especially accompanied by mucus and blood stools, pus and blood stools, blood in stools in bright red or jam color, etc. Or when there is unexplained anemia, emaciation and weakness, it is more important to be highly alert. When symptoms of colorectal cancer appear, it is important for patients to seek medical treatment in time.
Colorectal cancer also has the symptom of blood in stool at the early stage, and this is especially easy to be confused with hemorrhoids, leading many patients to be in advanced stage when they are diagnosed. Colorectal cancer is easily misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids in the early stage, and more than 70% of colorectal cancer patients are misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids.
The main reason for the high misdiagnosis rate is that there are many similarities between the clinical manifestations of anorectal tumors and hemorrhoids, such as blood in stool and increased frequency of stool. In addition, rectal cancer may compress the rectal vein and block the blood return, thus secondary to hemorrhoids, so the lesion is more easily hidden by the appearance of hemorrhoids.
In fact, all these can be avoided, no matter how similar the symptoms are, as long as anoscopy is done and pathology should be done, most of the anorectal tumors can be detected early.
In addition, there are still subtle differences upon careful observation. For example, if the bleeding is caused by hemorrhoids, then the blood is separate from the stool; if it is caused by tumors, usually the blood and stool are mixed together.
Some patients may also find that the stool is mixed with mucus, just like thick sputum, which is a danger sign that it may be enteritis or the cancer may break out and become infected.
2.Stomach cancer: stomach cancer is the first among all kinds of malignant tumors in China, mostly related to Helicobacter pylori infection, genetics and genes, dietary habits and other factors.
If sudden unexplained diarrhea, black stools, accompanied by loss of appetite, weakness, as well as nausea, burning sensation in the stomach, vague pain or distension in the upper abdomen and other symptoms occur, the possibility of tumor should be considered.
Especially, middle-aged people on 40 years old and those who usually suffer from chronic peptic ulcers should pay more attention and do gastroscopy and other screening in time.
Since stomach cancer occurs in the higher part of the abdomen, it usually presents as diarrhea symptoms. The diarrhea caused by gastric cancer is different from general diarrhea, which is usually accompanied by painful distension in the upper abdomen and does not cause constipation.
3.Liver cancer: Liver cancer is usually accompanied by cirrhosis, which can easily lead to portal vein hypertension or embolism, causing edema of intestinal wall, accelerated intestinal peristalsis, digestive and secretory disorders, thus causing diarrhea.
Studies show that about half of primary liver cancer patients will have diarrhea 3 months before diagnosis, and the number of diarrhea varies from 2 to 20 times each time. Therefore, if a patient with cirrhosis has diarrhea of unknown origin, he or she must remember to seek medical attention in a timely manner.
Among liver cancer patients, there are many cases where diarrhea is the first symptom. According to the statistics of 3254 cases of liver cancer patients, 5.8% of them had diarrhea as the first symptom.
The reason for diarrhea is that liver cancer cells can produce substances such as gastrin, vasoactive peptide and prostaglandin F2 in the process of division and proliferation.
Therefore, patients with daily diarrhea should not be treated as chronic enteritis or malabsorption syndrome. You should go to the hospital quickly for necessary tests such as serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), ultrasound and CT to confirm the diagnosis as early as possible.
For middle-aged and elderly people, especially those with chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis, if there is discomfort in the upper right side of the abdomen, enlargement of the liver area, stuffy pain and gradual aggravation, or loss of appetite and gradual wasting, they should go to the hospital as soon as possible to receive ultrasound, liver function, AFP and other tests to find out the cause.
Islet cell tumor: Islet cell tumor is a tumor that occurs in the islet cells of the pancreas and is often seen in people between the ages of 20 and 50. Islet cell tumor often causes diarrhea due to peptic ulcer disease, and patients usually have diarrhea after consuming excessive fat and cholesterol, and also have symptoms such as nausea, weakness and weight loss.
Because the location of the pancreas is often obscured by the stomach and transverse colon, pancreatic lesions are not easily detected by ordinary examination and the early diagnosis rate of pancreatic cancer is low. Some patients with chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer will suffer from chronic diarrhea due to dysfunction of the pancreas.
Therefore, if there is unexplained upper abdominal discomfort, along with symptoms such as recurrent diarrhea, steatorrhea, dyspepsia, lower back pain, jaundice not caused by gallstones, etc. and unexplained weight loss, it is important to pay attention and seek medical examination in time.
Especially those who have a history of long-term smoking, chronic pancreatitis, family history of pancreatic cancer and other high-risk groups.
5.Lung cancer and other cancers: Research proves that certain lung cancer cells can produce various regulatory peptides, such as adrenaline, parathyroid hormone, calcitonin, antidiuretic hormone and 5-hydroxytryptamine, etc. These hormones directly enter the blood circulation and cause carcinoid syndrome, and diarrhea is a prominent symptom.
In addition, there are also malignant tumors such as medullary thyroid tumors, growth inhibitor tumors, and gastrinomas that can also have diarrhea and indigestion symptoms.
Diarrhea and diarrhea are very common, but if they are accompanied by the above symptoms, do not take them lightly, find out the risk factors of the disease hidden in the body, diagnose the cause of the disease in time, and try to cure the disease as soon as possible.