Every September, the Korean Society of Coloproctology conducts the ‘Colon Knowledge Day’ campaign to raise awareness of colorectal cancer and help prevent and understand it. The name ‘Knowledge Day’ contains the purpose of protecting health from colorectal diseases through knowledge.
The large intestine is a digestive organ that consists largely of the colon and rectum, and colon cancer and rectal cancer are collectively called colon cancer. Symptoms vary, including bloody stool, abdominal pain, weight loss, and changes in bowel habits, but more people are asymptomatic. Sometimes, when blood is stained or spread in the toilet, many people worry about colon cancer, but this is more likely to be anal disease such as hemorrhoids. Since there are no clinical symptoms that can be noticed in the early stages, it is common for colon cancer to be advanced to stage 3 or higher when symptoms appear.
According to the National Cancer Screening Program, people aged 50 and over can receive a free ‘fecal occult blood test’ at a medical institution every year to check for intestinal bleeding through a stool test. The advantage is that the test method is simple, but the disadvantage is that it is relatively less accurate. If you have a family history of colon cancer or are in a high-risk group, it is recommended to receive a colonoscopy early if you have suspicious symptoms. Recently, due to the increase in young colon cancer patients, there has been much talk about lowering the age for starting colonoscopy to 45, and in fact, other countries are lowering the age. Regular colonoscopy can help in effective colon cancer treatment by detecting adenomatous polyps, which are the seeds of cancer, early.
Colon cancer can be treated with endoscopic resection if diagnosed early, but surgery is usually the most fundamental and important treatment method. Patients in stages 1 to 3 who have not metastasized to other organs are treated with surgery, and recently, even in patients with metastases, surgery is often performed after minimizing the tumor size with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Surgery is mainly performed using laparoscopy or robots, and the proportion of robotic surgeries has been increasing recently. Robotic surgery does not have a large difference in the rate of complications compared to laparoscopy, but it can remove cancer more precisely and cleanly.
Systematic management and treatment are more important than vague worries. To avoid colon cancer, in addition to quitting smoking and drinking, you should consume enough dietary fiber, reduce animal fat intake, and exercise regularly. Also, if there is someone in your family who has been diagnosed with colon cancer or if you suspect hereditary colon cancer, you may need a family test at the doctor’s discretion. Genetic counseling and testing through blood sampling can prevent colon cancer from being passed down to the next generation.
Expert Column >
subscribe
The best of the best, deep talk
Seo Young-ah’s 100-year-old cafe
Global Focus
Professor Lee Yoon-seok, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog
Hot news right now
2024-09-19 00:22:35