What is colorectal cancer?
A: Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or
rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts
of the large intestine).
What are the signs and symptoms of colon cancer?
A: Symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel movements,
weight loss, and fatigue.
Most colorectal cancers are due to what?
A: Old age and lifestyle factors, with only a small number of cases due to
underlying genetic disorders.
Risk factors include diet, obesity, smoking, and lack
of what?
A: Physical activity.
Dietary factors that increase the risk include what?
A: Red meat, processed meat, and alcohol.
Another risk factor is inflammatory bowel
disease,
which includes what?
A: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Colorectal cancer typically starts as a what?
A: A benign tumor, often in the form of a polyp, which over time becomes
cancerous.
Bowel cancer may be diagnosed by obtaining what?
A: A sample of the colon during a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy.
This is then followed by medical imaging to determine
whether the disease has what?
A: Spread.
Screening is effective for doing what?
A: Preventing and decreasing deaths from colorectal cancer.
Screening, by one of a number of methods, is
recommended starting from what age?
A: The age of 50 to 75.
During colonoscopy, small polyps may be what?
A: Removed if found.
If a large polyp or tumor is found, a biopsy may be
performed to do what?
A: To check if it is cancerous.
Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
do what?
A: Decrease the risk.
Their general use is not recommended for this purpose,
however, due to what?
A: Side effects.
Treatments used for colorectal cancer may include some
combination of what?
A: Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy.
Cancers that are confined within the wall of the colon
may be curable with what?
A: Surgery.
Cancer that has spread widely is usually not what?
A: Curable, with management being directed towards improving quality of life
and symptoms.
What is the five-year survival rate in the United
States?
A: It is around 65%.
The individual likelihood of survival depends on what?
A: How advanced the cancer is, whether or not all the cancer can be removed
with surgery and the person's overall
health.
Globally, colorectal cancer is the third most common
type of cancer, making up about what percentage of all cases?
A: 10%.
In 2018, there were how many new cases?
A: 1.09 million and 551,000 deaths from the disease.
The signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer depend on
what?
A: The location of the tumor in the bowel, and whether it has spread
elsewhere in the body (metastasis).
The classic warning signs include what?
A: Worsening constipation, blood in the stool, decrease in stool caliber
(thickness), loss of appetite, loss of weight, and nausea or vomiting in
someone over 50 years old.
Around 50% of individuals with colorectal cancer do not
report what?
A: Any symptoms.