- The effects of colorectal cancer can be markedly reduced with the simple step of regular screening. The screening regimen recommended by the American Cancer Society includes an annual fecal occult blood test and a flexible sigmoidoscopy every 3 to 5 years for all persons over the age of 50. Those individuals at high risk because of a prior cancer, with a family history of cancer, or a history of a chronic digestive disease that predisposes to cancer should undergo a regular colonoscopic screen. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that the lives of more than 90 percent of those patients who develop colonic polyps could be saved through the early detection of their cancer.
- Women are as likely as men to develop colorectal cancer.
- Colon cancer is most common after age 50, but the risk for developing this cancer increases after age 40.
- Symptoms of colorectal cancer include: frequent gas pains, blood in the stool or on the stool, diarrhea, constipation, a feeling of incomplete bowel emptying.
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