Early-stage colorectal cancer can be completely “asymptomatic”!

February 11, 2020
Health Info

If you have certain symptoms, such as blood in the stool, changes in bowel habits, or changes in weight, you should be alert to the possibility of colorectal cancer. But sometimes, not all people with these symptoms have colorectal cancer. Early colorectal cancer may have no symptoms at all!

The following three points are common misunderstandings aboutcolorectal cancer：

1. Early colorectal cancer has almost no symptoms

Basically, symptoms will not appear until the second stage or even the third stage of colorectal cancer. Therefore, if you hope to find curable carcinoma in situ or first stage cancer, it is absolutely unreliable to decide whether to undergo screening based on the presence or absence of symptoms.

2. Age is an important factor affecting the incidence of bowel cancer.

Changes in bowel habits are not necessarily a sign of colorectal cancer; they are also a common symptom of functional gastrointestinal diseases. For example, when the water is not fully absorbed, but the intestinal peristalsis speed becomes faster, the stool will still be soft and thin when it reaches the anus; when the water is absorbed and the intestinal peristalsis is slow, it will cause constipation or hard stool.

The risk of colorectal cancer increases with age because it is an age-related disease. Young people have similar symptoms, mostly functional gastrointestinal diseases. It is difficult to predict by symptoms alone as compared to adults over fifty years old.

3. Hemorrhoids may also cause rectal cancer

Many people think that theblood stoolsare caused by hemorrhoids. They think that having hemorrhoids will protect them from rectal cancer. They selectively believe that the cause of bleeding must be hemorrhoids. In fact, if you have bloody stools after the age of 50 and have not been screened before, you should be more vigilant.

The most common symptom of colorectal cancer is "no symptoms." When there are symptoms, the disease has often progressed to a certain level. It is good to be alert if you have symptoms, but what is more important is your age. If you are over 50 years old, you should be screened even if you have no symptoms. This is the key to early diagnosis.

The above information is for reference only. Consult your doctor if you have any doubt.

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