Doctor encourages awareness through colon cancer screening
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – One local doctor is offering advice to stay aware of colon cancer.
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men and women.
After seeing a rise in colorectal cancer diagnoses in people under the age of 50, the American Cancer Society has lowered its recommended age for men and women of average risk to get their first colonoscopy to 45 rather than waiting until they are 50 years old.
Colonoscopies detect polyps which can develop into cancer and can be removed. Early stage colorectal cancer can be cured with surgery. If not detected until it’s late stage, survival rates plummet.
“In my practice I see just as many people who have zero symptoms,” said Dr. Michael Campbell, who works in general surgery at TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital . “And those people are only diagnosed with screening colonoscopies. That is the importance of coming and getting your first check up at the age of 45.”
When they do occur, common symptoms include constipation, bloating, unexplained weight loss, change in bowel habits and rectal bleeding.
If you have had a parent, sibling, or grandparent that has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, you should get your first colposcopy at age 40 or 5 years before the age that the relative was diagnosed. People with certain hereditary disorders like Lynch syndrome and F.A.P. syndrome can get colorectal cancer younger, so should be screened earlier. In addition, people with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis should be screened earlier.
