Risk Factors for Colon Cancer

Cancer is the growth of too many cells in a certain part of the body, and depending on which part of the body it occurs, it is given different names. The colon, better known as the large intestine, is a part of the body that assists in digestion. It is the last organ involved in the digestive tract. Colon cancer is a malignancy that occurs in the inner lining of the colon or the rectum, the end part of the colon. Colon cancer has beome an everyday disease in today’s world.

Under normal circumstances, all cells in a human being undergo the process of cell birth and death. Cancer occurs when this cell growth becomes uncontrolled and when the body’s natural defense mechanism, the immune system, cannot control it. This uncontrolled growth then produces a collection of cells known as a tumor. Tumors are called benign or malignant, depending on how much the cells affect other regions of he body. Benign tumors do not spread or invade any other part of the body. Malignant tumors on the other hand keep dividing uncontrollable and can invade other parts of the body and destroy the healthy cells in the body.>To learn more about your health, click here.

There are many known risk factors that may increase the chance of colon cancer occurring in a human. Risk factors include being over the age of forty, as those below that age have been rarely diagnosed with colon cancer, and also having a family history of colon cancer is said to increase the chances of it occurring. Other factors like having had benign tumors or polyps removed before, having a diet that is high in fat but low in fiber and having another illness that may increase chances of developing colon cancer are all considered to be risk of getting colon cancer.

Having one of these risk factors does not mean you will definitely get colon cancer. Bleeding from the rectum does not always mean colon cancer but this bleeding should never be ignored. Changes in bowel habits, pain in the abdomen or rectum and a feeling that bowel movement cannot be completed are also symptoms. Again having these symptoms does not mean you have colon cancer but they should be taken seriously and a doctor has to be consulted to find out what may be causing these irregularities.

Advances in science and the field of medicine mean that cure rates for this type of cancer are quite high. Treatments for colon cancer include surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and usually a combination of these therapies is given to a patient to increase the efficiency of treatment.