At the age of 50, people often complain that their intestines hurt. Cancer may be the cause. According to doctors, the disease usually occurs in older people.
Treatment is influenced by various data, such as the stage of bowel cancer, symptoms, comorbidities, age of the patient, size and location of the tumor, etc.
Causes of occurrence
Quite often, doctors cannot specify why the intestines are affected. Cancer can be the result of either one or a combination of many causes. Factors that are harmful to he alth and can cause this type of oncology are:
- Chronic diseases of the digestive system in general and intestines in particular. This is primarily inflammation of the intestinal walls, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease.
- Food. Fatty foods and preservatives are especially harmful.
- Age. According to statistics, 9 out of 10 people with bowel cancer are over the age of 50.
- Diabetes mellitus.
- Sedentary lifestyle thatcauses food to stagnate and ferment.
- Genetic predisposition.
- Obesity.
- Polyps and adenomas.
- Alcohol.
Symptoms
Depending on which part of the intestine is damaged, cancer can manifest itself with different symptoms. In the early stages, the disease rarely makes itself felt. The first symptoms most often noticed by patients are:
- blood in the feces (it can also be in a latent form, that is, invisible in appearance, but found in the analysis of feces);
-
bowel cancer treatment nausea;
- vomit;
- diarrhea or constipation;
- dizziness;
- burp;
- fever;
- fever;
- anemia;
- loss of appetite;
- dull abdominal pain (almost 90% of cases);
- dry mouth;
- bloating.
In addition to the above symptoms, there may be others, because intestinal oncology puts out of work not only one organ, but also damages entire body systems. That is why the disease can be accompanied by jaundice, headache, chest discomfort and even cough.
Diagnosis
Complaints of the patient allow the doctor to assess the situation and prescribe the necessary diagnostic methods. First of all, the patient must take a blood test for CEA (an antigen that is produced by a tumor) and a fecal blood test. Sigmoidoscopy allows a good examination of the intestines. Cancer can be detected withfibrocolonoscopy, using which tissue samples of the neoplasm are also taken for analysis. It is possible to remove polyps and diagnose the disease thanks to colonoscopy. Actually, today this diagnostic method is used most often.
How to overcome?
Treatment of bowel cancer is carried out mainly by surgery. It is the most efficient. Modern medicine allows you to perform the operation at an early stage using endoscopy, and the abdominal cavity is not cut. The effectiveness of treatment in this case is 97%. If the organ is more affected, it is necessary to remove the tumor itself, and he althy surrounding tissues, as well as the nearest lymph nodes. In addition, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are also used to treat the disease.
