We see everywhere about the important of colon cancer early diagnosis in cancer cure, but the disease can be discovered or a patients goes to the doctors and has different tests, when he feels that something is wrong. So, some symptoms must be present. But the biggest problem with colon cancer is that there are no symptoms in the early stages of the disease, at least for the big majority of patients.
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It is a fact that most colon cancer symptoms often occur when the cancer is so advanced that it has already spread. In the first stages, people do not experience any symptoms all and this is the main cause why the disease is discovered late. Anyway, some signs may occur earlier and this is way it is very important for you to know and understand the symptoms of the disease.

Here are some of the colon cancer symptoms that can be considered common for many people. The first ones are related to the colon exact area. The change in the bowel habits is the first symptom that should alarm you. The bowel movements can be more frequent that normal, but they can be occurring less than it would be normal. Constipation is another sign. Although most people associate constipation with hemorrhoids or a digestive system problem, in many cases constipation can be caused by the colon cancer development. Diarrhea can also occur. This means the loose or watery stools, many times a day. The alternation between diarrhea and constipation is also one of the symptoms that a person who has developed colon cancer can experience. The bright red or dark red blood in the stools in one of the colon cancer symptoms that should make you have a medical check immediately. The feeling that you have not emptied your bowel is also a colon cancer sign. Abdominal discomfort, bloating, frequent gas pains or cramps can also occur.

If you have one of those symptoms, except the blood in the stools that should make you have a medical check immediately, for one or two weeks make an appointment with your doctor for a screening test that can confirm or on the other side infirm you the presence of cancer. Other symptoms, that are experienced by patients that have colon cancer is a more advanced stage, are abnormal and unexplained loose of weight, the lost of appetite, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, jaundice when the cancer creates liver metastasis or anemia. However, not all of these symptoms will be felt by all those who have colon cancer. Some of them may occur earlier, while others may never be experienced. It depends on every patients own reaction against the cancer and the way he reacts to the treatment of the disease.

Colon cancer is a disease that is formed in the colon area. When it comes to this type of cancer, one of the most important things is the early diagnosis of the disease. This element is so important because an early discovery of this type of cancer means at the same time a better chance of curing the disease. The diagnosis of colon cancer can be made through the screening tests that can also help a person receive the exact diagnosis of a certain stage of cancer. One of the most common tests used in cancer of colon diagnosis is colonoscopy. Though the medical test that uses a colonoscopy, cancer can be detected and staged, but also a sample can be taken form the abnormal growths that the doctor finds, to see after tests exactly what they are dealing with.
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A colonoscope is used in a similar way as a sigmoidoscope, but allows the doctor to see the entire colon and the colon wall because of the tiny camera that is placed on one end of the colon and is also connected to a monitor that shows inside the individual’s body. So, this way the doctor can see if any abnormal growths are formed in the colon and he can also remove a polyp if one is found. He can also take through the colonoscopy intervention a sample for a biopsy, a small piece of tissue that is taken out. Then the doctor can say for sure if what the found is actually cancer or not.

This discovery of cancer of colon and colonoscopy intervention can be done in hospitals, in a doctor office or in clinics. Before you have this test you must know that there are some thing you should do and some that you should not. All of them will probably presented to you by your doctors after you set with him the day of the intervention, but it is best to know exactly in time what a colonoscopy is all about. Before you have a colonoscopy you should not eat for a certain time and you will have to take some drugs that will help you clean your colon. The day you are having the intervention, the colon must be empty. Anyway, you can ask your doctor for advices on this matter and he has to know exactly what medicines are you taking. There are some foods that should be avoided, because they are harder to digest.

The test has a duration of about 30 minutes, but it can be longer if a polyp is removed or a biopsy sample is taken. After the test you may feel a little dizzy and you will not be able to drive or you may experience some pain, but these things are normal. However, if the pain persists, tell your doctor.

Being diagnosed with colon cancer may be one of the hardest things you ever had to face. In some cases, when colon cancer diagnose is made earlier, you do not need to worry about whether your disease can be cured or not, because is the big majority of cases, over 90 percent it can. However, the diagnosis can also be made when cancer evolves and reaches the last stage. Now a simple surgery is not enough and you will have to go through chemotherapy also. But before having to treat colon cancer a correct diagnose has to be made at the right moment.
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Colon cancer diagnose can be made by doctors using different types of medical tests. So, when you experience one of the symptoms of this disease, make sure that you will see a doctor as soon as possible. The medical check you will be submitted at includes an evaluation of your family medical history to see if cancer cases have been present is someone of your family members or not and he will also ask you if you had in the past some problems or bowel infections. After this discussion, he will suggest the most appropriate intervention for your particular case. These interventions include sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy and barium enema test.

The most common one of all these tests, is the colonoscopy. This screening procedure can diagnoses easily colon cancer because the doctor can examine the entire wall of the colon. The tub that is inserted in the patient colon has a tiny camera on one end and this way the doctor will have a clear view inside the colon. A biopsy sample can be taken and than after performing some tests, cancer can be diagnosed, if it is the case. The intervention is usually painless, but if you experience some pain after the intervention you should to worry. However, if the pain is persistent, go immediately to see your doctor.

A sigmoidoscopy is a screening test used for colon cancer diagnosis. The test can be done also by people that do not have any symptoms, but present the colon cancer risk factors and so discover very early the potential cancerous cells. If you have some symptoms, such as the presence of blood in the stools, abdominal pain and discomfort you should not wait and make an appointment with your doctor for a screening procedure. In a sigmoidoscopy a flexible tube is inserted through the individual’s anus and rectum though which the doctor can see inside the colon and this way examine the colon wall to see if some abnormal growths have been developed. With this test more than 50 percent of the colon cancer cases can be diagnosed and a biopsy sample can be easily taken with no pain.

Because colon cancer is a disease difficult to cure, early diagnosis, like in every type of cancer case, is very important. So, the question here is how can colon cancer be diagnosed?
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Colon cancer diagnosis must be done after the cancer has stated to develop, but it is not actually formed as a cancer, but the polyps have the potential of becoming cancerous. This is colon cancer stage zero, in which the disease can be treated very easy. Anyway, this is the most desired situation, but in most cases colon cancer diagnosis comes after a long period of time, measured in months of trying to establish the cause of some symptoms. And when colon cancer symptoms occur, many patients believe that they are having hemorrhoids.

Some patients get the colon cancer diagnosis with great surprise and the disease development can come as a shock for them after a routine colonoscopy check. The diagnosis can be done through some certain medical tests and a laboratory analysis can confirm the presence of cancer. The shock that some people have when they are told that colon cancer was developed in their cases, is due the lack of symptoms that this disease show in the earliest stages. Sometimes symptoms can not be present at all. Some of the signs that a patient may experience when cancer grows are the unexplained loss of weight and the blood presence in the individual’s stools.

The tests that are used for colon cancer diagnosis can regard stool testing, barium enema, virtual colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, and colonoscopy. Every test can be used in different situations, so your doctor will be the one that will recommend you which one is the best to use in your case. However, colonoscopy seems to be the most used one because with this test the doctor can see inside the individual’s body and look using a tiny camera for abnormal growths in the colon area. In this intervention, a biopsy sample can be taken form that part of the colon the doctor thinks may be affected by cancer. Through a biopsy, tissues, cells or fluids from the body can be taken for examination. The with microscopes use, the doctors can establish if the sample is a cancerous one or not. The colon cancer diagnosis is putted by the doctor and considered final only when the biopsy confirms it and after it has been analyzed in a laboratory. Not in all the samples cancer cells will be contained, so if you have gone through this intervention and a sample was sent to analyze, do not think that the result will surly come wrong. After a confirmation has been made by the laboratory, the next step is to establish the exact stage of the colon cancer that was been formed.

Being diagnosed with colon cancer is not easy at all. For many people, this thing can come as a great shock, while for others, colon cancer diagnosis can cause a breakdown. As know, colon cancer cure depends very much on the stage in which the cancer is actually discovered. In the earliest stages, colon cancer can be easily cured because the cancerous tumors can be removed through surgery. In the last stages cancer spreads, and this is the main reason why it can not be cured without any effort through a simple surgery. In these cases, colon cancer treatment must regard both surgery and chemotherapy.
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However, regardless of the stage in which colon cancer is diagnoses we can say that this disease is one that can produce the patient’s death. In the earliest stages, if treatment is not applied, cancer can grow and reach the last stages, in which the spread cancer can cause, it is does in 92 percent of all those who are in this phase of the disease, death. This is way colon cancer is life threatening and you must know that the survival rates are not good at all for those who develop this disease. If in the last stage of colon cancer only 8 to 10 percent of those diagnosed with this disease, survive it, we can not say, even if the cancer is much easier to treat, that all those who develop colon cancer is the first stage survive it. Approximately 95 percent do cure colon cancer, but still it remains that other 5 percent for whom colon cancer is a fatal disease.

So, we will not be wrong if we consider that colon cancer is a life threatening disease. Maybe this is way all doctors recommend so much prevention. Colon cancer prevention mean reducing all the risk factors by all means and avoiding the causes of this disease. Prevention can be done in many different ways, such as adopting a diet and an equilibrating life style, or having regular every day exercises. Besides diet and prevention, the early diagnosis is also very important because the survival rates are higher if the cancer is discovered earlier.

Anyway, if you have been diagnosed in one of the advances stages of colon cancer it does not mean that your life is automatically over. Of course, the battle is harder for you, but cancer can be cured also in stage four. Having the power to fight and the right and proper treatment for your condition are the first steps in curing the disease. Just believing in your ability to fight against and treat colon cancer can increase your chances to actually do it more than you think it can.

Depending on the stage in which the cancer is diagnosed, colon cancer can be both a disease very difficult to cure and a disease treatable. So, when the cancer is discovered in the earliest stage, it can be cured really easy through a surgical removal of the cancerous tumor. So, in these cases, colon cancer treatment is surgery. However, because cancer can reoccur in any moment after the treatment has been applied and after the primary tumor was cured or the metastases withdraw, you should always be careful about preventing cancer form growing again. Prevention can be done in many ways and it can reduce the causes of recurrence and the number of patients that have to pass through this awful time. In recurrences also, but mostly in primary tumors, the cancer is cured by removing it through a surgical intervention. After surgery, you must follow exactly the things that your doctor advices you to do and you must know that diet is very important because by not respecting it you can slow down the healing process. There are many kind of surgical interventions that can be performed in cancer case. However, a surgery can affect an individual ability to eat or it can cause weakness or even nausea.
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After a colonoscopy, you will be able to eat anything that can be digested easily. You can not eat raw vegetables, sweets, fatty foods, skin and peel of fruits or high-fiber grains. After a colonoscopy you may also reduce the consumption of yogurt, bananas or juice. Anyway, in most cases after surgery is recommended a low residue diet. This diet is most of the times the opposite of the one recommended in colon cancer prevention. The low residue diet after colon cancer surgery can include grains, such as cereals, soda crackers, pastas, melba toast or buns, fruits, such as bananas, grapes, peaches, watermelon, apricots, with the avoid of prunes or berries.

The diet after colon cancer surgery should avoid raw vegetables and vegetables that create gas, such as cauliflower, kale, cabbage or broccoli. The proteins should also be reduced. Do not eat very much meat and focus on fish. Avoid beans or peas. You should drink 100 percent natural vegetables juices and you should eat mushrooms, beets, carrots, cucumbers or beans.

When what you want is to prevent colon cancer recurrence, then you need to eat according to one diet, processed meats, refined and processed grains or refined sugar. Eat as much garlic, fish oil and sea vegetables as you can. Fatty fish, nuts and seeds, beans and peas are other foods that are recommended in colon cancer recurrence prevention. However, your diet must be known by your doctor, who can give you advices about what to eat and what foods to avoid depending on the phase of the cancer and the treatment applied to cure it.

Even if colon cancer has been treated, unfortunately, it does not mean that it has been cured forever. In some diseases, such as chickenpox, if you develop it once, you can not make it again, but this is not cancer case. In fact you can not consider yourself actually cured after treatment is over. It has to pass at least five years after that time to stop fearing the disease. You may ask why is this so. Well, even if colon cancer has been treated in the first place and the primary tumor has been removed or cured, the cancer can reappear in the same location or it can be formed as metastases. In most cases, the cancer is not formed as a primary tumor again, it is present as metastases.
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How and why does colon cancer reoccur is not known. However, doctors recommend attention and a high level of care to all those things that may indicate that something is wrong. Even if the period of time that is set as a reference date is the five years period, most colon cancer recurrences occur is the first years. Some studies show that 70 percent of all those diagnosed with this disease have recurrences after two years. The rate for colon cancer recurrence after two years is the highest one. Anyway, do not think that this means that if you did had recurrences two years after your treatment, it mean that you can not have them at all.

Some statistics show more optimistic results, and only 23 percent of all the patients that have been diagnosed with colon cancer develop recurrences. Anyway, they are influenced by different factors. The risks and the factors that influence the rate for colon cancer recurrence after two years and the colon cancer recurrences in general are established in two ways. The first one is the cancer stage and the tumor dimensions. So, the chances of developing colon cancer recurrences are higher for those who had primary tumors larger that 3 cm. The stage of the disease is another important factor on this matter.

The highest rates of recurrences occurring are seen at those patients who had to treat colon cancer advanced stages. So, for colon cancer stage three, 41 percent of the patients diagnosed in the first place, develop recurrences. In stage two the percent is set at 24, while for those who had colon cancer stage one, at 10 percent. These percents are influenced by the fact that colon cancer spread to other parts of the body assume a growth of the tumor, and a bigger tumor, that has grown until it has passed the colon wall, affects more the individual’s body than a smaller one.

Colon cancer can be a disease really complicated. When an early diagnosis is made the cancer can be treated, while when the disease evolves, the chances of cure are very low, and sometimes the cancer produces the patient’s death. However, even if colon cancer is treated is does not mean that the disease is cured. Colon cancer can reoccur after a few months, one year, two or even four. It is believed that after a patient has passed the five year period of time, they usually report at, the chances for colon cancer to be developed again are extremely low and doctors consider that on individual in out of risk after this time. However, most recurrences are developed in the first years after the primary tumors diagnosis and treatment. Some statistics actually show that 70% of colon cancer recurrences occur in first 2 years.
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So, if 70% of colon cancer recurrences occur in first 2 years it means that even your doctor tell you that the cancer has been cured, it does not mean that you have to stop being careful and that you are not going to see doctors no more. In fact this period of time has to contain regular medical checks and you have to be really careful about colon cancer recurrences symptoms. Sometimes they may be evident, while other times, such as in colon cancer first tumor case, they can be missing. This is the main reason why regular checks are a must for all those who developed colon cancer, regardless of the stage.

However, you must know that in some cases, recurrences do not appear after colon cancer first treatment and diagnosis. This fact can be explained through the thing that some patients have different kind of diets and adopt different way of life or other treatments that are known to reduce the risk of colon cancer recurrence. The way you deal with this fact is established by you and your doctor. He must tell you who big is your risk in developing again this disease and the risks are different depending on the tumors size or the stage of the cancer.

There are some things that can be done with the purpose to reduce the risk of colon cancer recurrence. Anyway, you should be optimistic. The highest rates of recurrences are the ones for stage three and they are established at 41 percent, so more than a half of all those who had colon cancer in stage three did not developed recurrences. The rates are bigger for advanced stages than the ones for stages that are considered the early ones, in which cancer do not spreads and does not lefts the colon area and colon wall.

Colon cancer, such as any other type of cancer is a disease difficult to cure. However, in some cases the cure can be done, but after a certain period of time, cancer can reaper. And in many cases it does. This is why, like in the primary cancerous tumor cases, the prevention must be done and this way cancer stopped before it becomes a real issue. To prevent colon cancer recurrence is not a thing that difficult to do, and in some cases the elements done with the prevention purpose can work and cancer can be stopped from occurring again in the same patient.
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And if the fact that colon cancer prevention is very important was established, the next thing we should ask is how can we prevent colon cancer recurrence. Diet and lifestyle can play an important part in this matter. Two recent studies have shown that regular exercise can reduce the risk of colon cancer recurrence with 50 percent. Researches showed that the survival rates of colon cancer can be reduced by eliminating red or processed meat, sweets or desserts, fatty foods or refined grains for your alimentation. So, reducing these aliments from your diet is an important step in colon cancer prevention but also in increasing your own survival rates. Eating these foods will make your body weaker in front of a disease. They also have components that may work together to increase the risk of colon cancer development. On the other side, while whole grains, calcium, vitamin D and folic acid can low the risk of this disease recurrence. So, what you should do to prevent colon cancer in the first place and colon cancer recurrence after the disease development is to have a healthy diet. These foods are recommended because of their component and good effects on the body. So, reduce the meat and fat foods form your alimentation and increase the whole grains in your diet, such as barley, brown rice, oats, whole wheat, whole rye and quinoa, foods rich in benefic nutrients.

You should also reduce alcohol or eliminate it completely form you life. Be active, exercise every day and try to have an equilibrating lifestyle with regular meals. Aspirin has been proven by some researches to have effects in reducing colon cancer recurrence. Have medical checks constantly. Now you should already know what colon cancer is and how it works. Do to think that if it happed to you once, it can not happen again. Ask you doctor all the details about your disease and be careful at any sign. Do not skip the medical checks and try to keep this disease under supervision as much as you can because by now you should know how important is have an early detection that sometimes can make the difference between life and death.

If you have a colon cancer case in your family, regardless of the cancer stage or if that person has been cured form it or not, you have an increasing risk in developing the disease yourself. The disease is very hard to deal with, and sometimes it can come as a great shock for the one that is diagnosed. This is way we must try by all means to prevent the disease. No one wants to pass through the cancer diagnosis and through its, sometimes painful, treatment. And surly no one wants to pass two times through this all process.
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However, 20% of patients with treated colon cancer feel recurring signs within the five years period. In the first phase, when cancer occurs and develops its primary tumor, it affects the colon. Then the cancer grows, if it is not discovered and if treatment is not applied in the curative purpose. When colon cancer reaches its last stage of evolution, stage four, it spreads to other parts of the individual’s body, such as the liver. When cancer affects the liver, the treatment must be more complex than a simple surgery. In many cases colon cancer recurrence is located in the liver. Colon cancer recurrence in liver is the most common type of evolution for the cancer that has been diagnosed in its last stage.

Some statistics show that the recurrence rates for colon cancer vary between 4 percent and 55 percent. Anyway, the recurrence of this type of cancer can be predicted according to some researches. So, doctors can perform some tests that scan the genes of the patient during the early stages of the first diagnosis of the colon cancer to establish the chances for that specific patient for colon cancer to be formed again after treatment was administrated. This way, if your doctor tells you that you have a great risk in developing again colon cancer, after you have gone to a complex treatment that worked, you need to be very careful about the sign of a recurrence.

Colon cancer recurrence in liver treatment will be established by the doctor, depending on many factors such as the evolution of the disease or the patient’s health. Once colon cancer has been treated once, you do not need to be afraid to face it again. A recurrence, regardless of its location is not more difficult to treat than the cancer primary tumor. Drugs or even surgery can be administrated and the new and secondary tumor can be treated or removed. However, before treating a colon cancer recurrence it is better to prevent it. Be careful at the main risk factors of colon cancer recurrences and try to avoid them as much as possible.