Colon Cancer - Types, Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

According to the American Cancer Society, Colon cancer is the 3rd most diagnosed cancer among men and women. Not only that, it is the 2nd most common cause of death due to cancer. This cancer is often referred to as Colorectal cancer if grouped with Rectal cancer.

Team Digit

What Is Colon Cancer?

The colon or large intestine is the final part of your digestive system, where your body produces water and salt from solid wastes. These, then, move through your rectum and exit your body through your anus.

Colon cancer develops when tumours start growing in the large intestine or colon. These tumours usually begin as small, noncancerous (benign) clumps of cells called polyps that form on the inside of the colon. Over time some of these polyps can become colon cancers.

What Are the Types of Colon Cancer?

Adenocarcinoma is a common type that is found in most people who are diagnosed with this cancer. Medical experts have also found other types of tumours that need a different type of treatment from adenocarcinoma. These different types of tumours are discussed below -

Adenocarcinoma

This is a cell cancer that forms glands making mucus to lubricate the inner lining of your colon and rectum. As it keeps gradually growing and spreading beyond the inner surface of the colon, it becomes invasive (or infiltrating) adenocarcinoma. It is also known as true cancer as it can spread to any other part of your body.

Carcinoid Tumours

Carcinoid tumours are the most common form of neuroendocrine tumour. It can grow throughout one’s gastrointestinal tract, with about 5 to 7% of its development in the colon. It performs less than 1% of all colorectal cancers (rectal and colon cancer).

Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours

This tumour is a soft tissue sarcoma (rare cancer that begins in soft tissues like fat, muscles, nerves, tendons, blood and lymph vessels of the body) that rarely occurs in the colon. These tumours can also start in the blood vessels or connective tissue of the colon, as other types of sarcoma.

Lymphoma

Primary lymphoma is a rare tumour that starts primarily in the lymph nodes of the gastrointestinal tract. Nevertheless, it can cause colon cancer by comprising 0.2 to 1.2% of all colonic malignancies.

Who Is at Risk of Colon Cancer?

About 1 in 23 men and 1 in 25 women carries a chance of growing cancer in the colon, according to the estimation of the American Cancer Society. Below are some factors that increase the risk of developing cancer -

People of any age can develop this. However, it generally affects middle-aged to older adults.
African-American individuals are at greater threat than those of other races.
A person with a family history of any kind of colorectal cancer.
Anyone carrying a chronic inflammatory intestinal condition.
A person who maintains a low-fibre, high-fat diet and has Diabetes and Obesity.

What Are the Symptoms of Colon Cancer?

There are several silent symptoms of Colon cancer that you may often overlook. Most of the symptoms are not noticeable during the starting phases. However, it becomes prominent as it progresses. This may include many diseases along with physical discomforts such as -

A prolonged and continuous change in bowel habits.
Change in stool consistency like Diarrhoea or constipation.
Rectal bleeding in the stool, which may or may not be visible.
Persistent abdominal cramps, discomfort, bloating or gas.
A continual urge to excrete due to feeling that the bowel has not emptied.
Fatigue and weakness.
IBS or Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Anaemia or iron deficiency in the blood.
Unexplained weight loss.

What Causes Colon Cancer?

Medical experts could not discover what causes colon cancer, but they can explain a generic process of cancer development. Typically, this cancer occurs when healthy cells in the colon develop changes in their DNA.

DNA carries a set of instructions that makes a cell function. Healthy cells grow and divide systematically to keep your body functioning properly. But when a cell’s DNA is damaged, it becomes cancerous. This is the reason why it continues to divide even if your body does not require it. Then the accumulation of those new cells forms a tumour.

Gradually the cancer cell starts growing to invade and destroy the nearby healthy tissue. The cell also travels to other parts of your body to form its deposit.

Different Stages of Colon Cancer

People often ignore early symptoms of colon cancer until it becomes noticeable and unbearable. Once your doctor diagnoses you with any type of colorectal cancer, the first concern that arises is the stage of cancer. There are primarily 3 factors given by the American Joint Committee on Cancer, which are together referred to as the TNM staging system:

Primary Tumour (T): This refers to how big the tumour has grown and whether it has spread into the wall of your colon or spread close to it.
Regional Lymph Nodes (N): It refers to whether cancer cells have spread near lymph nodes.
Distant Metastases (M): This refers to whether cancer has spread to other parts of the body from your colon.

Now, within each category, they categorised Colon cancer further to indicate the extent of its growth. The stages are stated below –

Stage	Description
0	The cancer is in a very early stage at this point and has not grown further beyond the mucosa or inner layer of the colon. This stage is also known as carcinoma in situ.
1	This stage indicates that this cancer has grown to the next layer of the tissue of your colon or submucosa. However, the spread did not extend to the lymph or any other part.
2	By the beginning of this stage, cancer has reached the outer layer of your colon, but it spreads near the lymph nodes gradually.
3	The growth of cancer is no longer limited to the outer layer of the colon and has reached 2 or 3 lymph nodes by now.
4	It is the most advanced stage where cancer has already reached beyond the wall of the colon. The cancer spreads to distant parts like your stomach and liver at stage 4 of colon cancer.

What Are the Treatment Options for Colon Cancer?

Treatments for the disease differ across types and depend on the stage. Doctors also take your overall health condition and other characteristics into account before deciding on and proceeding with any medical procedure. Following are Colon cancer’s treatment options -

Surgery

Surgery can be of 3 types for any cancer, such as Endoscopy, Laparoscopic surgery, Palliative surgery. All these types of surgeries typically remove the lymph or the whole colon. They also mitigate the risk of spreading cancer by removing nearby lymph nodes.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy interferes with the process of cell division by disrupting the proteins or DNA to kill the cancerous cell. A cancer specialist, namely Oncologist, treats cancer by targeting the rapidly dividing cells. The process of healing takes time between the doses as the treatment occurs in cycles. You will face some side effects like hair loss, nausea, fatigue, and vomiting.

Radiation Therapy

This therapy typically treats Colon cancer by destroying the cancer cell with the help of high energy gamma-ray focus. There are 2 types of radiation such as internal and external radiation. In external radiation therapy, a machine discharges these rays outside of your body. Contrastingly, doctors implant radioactive materials close to the site of cancer in the form of a seed in internal radiation therapy.

What Is the Treatment Cost of Colon Cancer in India?

The treatment cost of Colon cancer depends on the stage in which you are at. Prices also may vary depending upon the hospitals in different cities. However, the average cost of Colon cancer treatment in India is approximately ₹2,50,000 to ₹5,50,000.

How to Prevent Colon Cancer?

There is no tested and guaranteed prevention for Colon cancer. You can only take some preventive measures to maintain an all-over healthy life:

Limitation in intake of red meat and other saturated fat.
Consuming plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Maintaining a healthy weight and diet.
Exercising regularly.

Despite being the most common cause of cancer-causing death, chances are there to survive this cancer. People diagnosed with stages 1 and 2 generally have the highest colon cancer survival rate. However, to find out the disease at such an early stage to be able to cure it completely, you must not ignore any of the signs or symptoms mentioned before.

Frequently Asked Questions

All

Can a person with a family history of having colon cancer survive this cancer?

Yes, a person with a family history of developing colon cancer can still survive despite being highly risked if diagnosed at an early stage.

How is colon cancer diagnosed?

There are 4 types of screening- faecal immunochemical testing (FIT) every year, FIT every 2 years, sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy to diagnose Colon cancer.

Which symptoms may seem similar to the symptoms of colon cancer?

PMS or premenstrual syndrome and symptoms of anaemia may seem similar to symptoms of colon cancer.