Frances Y. Rivera
Professor Montalvo
A & P II
4 May 2015
Colon Cancer
CANCER is a medical term to describe an abnormal growth of cells. Abnormal cells that are able to grow and divide, but unable to die as normal cells do. COLON is a medical term for the large intestine. Together COLON CANCER is a disease used to simply state an abnormality of cell growth within the large intestine. Colon cancer has contributing risk factors, preventative factors, symptoms and various treatments/solutions according to the individual’s diagnosis.
There are various predisposition risk factors and contributing risk factors with colon cancer. Predisposition risks are factors that one can neither predict nor control. Examples of predisposition factors would
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Individuals usually do not associate symptoms with colon cancer right away. "Symptoms may be diarrhea or constipation, changes in stool consistency, narrow stools, rectal bleeding or blood in the stool, pain cramps, or gas in the abdomen pain during bowel movements, continual urges to defecate, weakness or fatigue, unexplained weight loss, irritable bowel syndrome {IBS}) or Iron deficiency {anemia} (medicalnewstoday.com)."
Preventative factors would be a healthy diet, plenty of exercise, annual physical examinations and blood-work. "The American Cancer Society suggests screening test such as fecal occult blood tests {annually}, stool DNA testing, flexible sigmoidscopy {every 5 years}, colonoscopy or barium enema {every 10 years}, and CT colongraphy {every 5 years} (medicalnewstoday.com)" Making healthy life choices and the commitment to annual testing and recommended testing will help reduce the possibility for colon
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Early detection is obviously helpful for the best results possible. Treatment options may be surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy {additional drug therapy with chemotherapy}, and immuno therapy {vaccines to help the immune system}. "There is no single treatment for cancer, but the most common options for colon cancer are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy (medicalnewstoday.com)." Surgery options may be a colectomy meaning the cancerous section of the colon is removed and connected to an opening in the abdominal area. Laparoscopic surgery which uses small incisions to remove possible or questionable areas of the colon, such as polyps, to prevent future diagnosis of colon
Cancer is one of the 9 National Health Priority Areas (NHPA), areas which account for a significant portion of the burden of disease, but have sizeable potential for improvement. In Australia, CRC is the second most common cancer, after prostate (in men) and breast cancer (in women) (AIHW, Cancer incidence projections). The incidence has gradually increased (by 13% in males from 1982-2007) (AIHW, Cancer in Australia an overview). This is compounded by the ageing population and population growth, with 14,860 new cases in 2010 (http://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/types-of-cancer/bowel-cancer). This graph demonstrates this upward trend ((AIHW, Cancer incidence projections):
Surgery is the most common treatment for all stages of colon cancer. Cancer cells may be removed by one of the below procedures:
Colorectal cancer, or CRC, affects African American men and women more than Caucasians, at a rate 20% higher. This is concerning when faced with the mortality rates among African Americans, 28% higher for women and 14% higher for men than for Whites. African Americans are also more likely to be in later stages of the disease when diagnosed. There is a need to study and evaluate why these factors exist, as proper screening and early diagnosis can severely impact survival rates for CRC. One study attempts to find the solution through testing, however, this study slightly discredits itself along the way.
Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in men and women, responsible for more than 57,000 deaths in 2001 alone. Colon polyps, which can lead to colon cancer, are found in about 30-40% of people aged 60 or older- and the risks of polyps increase with age” (Lerche Davis, 2003). Most cases of colon cancer start as small adenomatous polyps. Many people experience no signs or symptoms in the early stages of colon cancer. Some signs and symptoms can include diarrhea, constipation, or any change in consistency of your stool that continues for longer than a month. Any bleeding from the rectum or blood found in the stool can also be a sign of colon cancer. Continuing abdominal pain, cramps, gas, weakness, fatigue and unexplained weight loss could all be signs of rectal cancer in the patient (Staff,
Cancer is the term used to describe a group of diseases consisting of hundreds of ailments and although there exists so many different types of cancer, they all begin in a similar way. The body is made up of over a trillion cells, and cancer is the uncontrolled growth of malfunctioning cells in the body (Dawson, 1996). “Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person’s life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells or to repair injuries” (American Cancer Society, 2012).
On the other hand, Ulcerative Colitis has a similar, but slightly different set of common symptoms. The most prevalent of these symptoms is diarrhea. Other symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis include a bloody stool, abdominal pain, and a feeling of urgency. The most noticeable complication related to Ulcerative Colitis is a general discomfort and difficulty with bowel movements.
Predisposing factors include any characteristic of a person that motivates a certain behavior before its occurrence (McKenzie et al., 2013). In this case study, Richard beliefs or positive attitude toward smoking, lack of the knowledge regarding smoking risks (low perception of smoking risks), and low self-efficacy caused him to smoke excessively at work.
For cancer patients there are several treatment options. Surgery can remove cancerous tumors, chemotherapy uses drugs for treatment, and radiation therapy. The doctor in charge of the patient’s treatment may also choose to use radiation therapy. “Radiation
Colon cancer develops in the part of the gastrointestinal tract that absorbs water and minerals before waste products are disposed via the rectum. In women endometrial cancer is related to colon cancer. This type of cancer is the second leading cause of death due to cancer in the United States. Over one-hundred fifty thousand individuals will be diagnosed this year and this cancer will probably be responsible for about 47,900 deaths in 1999 (http://www.cancer.org). Most colon cancers are adenocarcinomas that develop from the glandular cells. Ninety percent of all colon cancer cases will develop in individuals after 50 years of age. Ninety percent of all tumors arise from polyps that are commonly found in people older than 50. Prevention includes regular exercise and a diet high in fiber. The most important risk factor is age. Medical screening includes a yearly blood occult test after age 50 and a colonoscopy every 3 years after age 50. Regular screening detects polyps that have become precancerous. If regular screening is not done, the cancer is not detected until blood is found in the...
According to the American Cancer Society, the third leading cause of cancer related deaths for African American men and women is colorectal cancer (CRC). African Americans have a higher CRC mortality rate than White men and women due to lack of preventative testing, increased cancer fatalism attitudes, decreased knowledge of the cancer, and late onset diagnosing. To research how to resolve this issue the “Fayetteville Area Inter-Faith Commitment to Colorectal Health and Cancer Reduction in African Americans,” or “The F.A.I.T.H Project” was created to execute a culturally targeted faith/community-based educational intervention about CRC within the African American community.
Colon and rectal cancer develop in the digestive tract, which is also called the gastrointestinal, or GI, tract. The digestive system processes food for energy and rids the body of solid waste matter (fecal matter or stool). Colon cancer and rectal cancer have many features in common. Sometimes they are referred to together as colorectal cancer.
We now can find what specific cancer a patient has and where, and give them a variety of treatment options such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and several other types of treatment including experimental drugs. But there is no 100% guarantee that these treatments work. Ancient physicians and surgeons knew that cancer usually came back after it was removed surgically and recognized that there was no cure once the cancer had spread, and thought that intervention may be more harmful that no treatment at all. Some people today still think of cancer as incurable and wait until the last minute to go to the doctor. Galen was a 2nd- century Greek doctor that claimed a breast cancer tumor could be completely removed if it was caught at an early enough
Cancer is a disease that affects human somatic cells. It causes the cells to divide uncontrollably and form masses known as tumors. There are two different types of cancer tumors. Some tumors are benign and other tumors are malignant. Benign tumors look similar to the tissues that they came from and develop slowly. The tumor remains in the same area that the tumor originated in. Malignant tumors are formed from cells that do not resemble the tissue that they came from. They vary in shape and size. This enables pieces of the tumor to break off and spread to other places in the body. Over the past few decades cancer has become a very prominent disease. There are many different types of cancer and many different causes for the the disease. Most cancers are because of a genetic mutation. The most common type occur when a cell is dividing. Proto-oncogenes, which are alleles in a normal cells, mutate to form oncogenes. These oncogenes cause cancer because they do not allow the cells to self destruct or become epistatic. There have been several research projects which have been testing epistatis.
Everyone is born with certain genetic mutations that make the them more likely to develop cancer in a later time in life. Though they might have a genetic feature, cancer will not develop unless triggered by environmental factors such as air and water pollution. As a matter of fact, my grandfather started smoking alongside consuming heavy amounts of alcohol around the age of 15, smoking and heavy alcohol intake have been considered as one of the potential causes of colon
Some risk factors linked to ovarian cancers are a high-fat diet, never having children or not having children until late in life, obesity, infertility, using fertility drugs but not becoming pregnant, starting your periods at a young age or going through menopause at an older than average age, use of talcum powder on the genital area, belonging to the Caucasian race or being of Jewish descent, and having a family history of ovarian or breast cancer ("Facts about OVARIAN CANCER," n.d.). Although most ovarian cancers are not inherited there is about 5 to 10 percent of ovarian cancers that do run in families meaning if one of you family members, especially in your immediate family, has ovarian cancer you have a higher risk of getting it.