What are the signs of bowel cancer?

Medics should identify the first signs of bowel cancer using instrumental methods, such as a visual examination of the walls of the colon. They should use sound or ray methods without penetrating the body.

The basis for assigning studies

The basis for assigning instrumental or laboratory studies is:

• risk groups;
• The age group is over 40 years, but there are cases of the disease in the younger generation.
• The presence of some signs indicating a lesion of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as any other symptomatology. For example, a combination of cardiac and excretory disorders against a background of intestinal disorders is also on the symptoms list.

The competent vigilance of a general practitioner plays a critical role in cancer diagnosis during this period, as people turn to the therapist in the early stages of the disease in 70-90% of cases, often for reasons unrelated to cancer.

What are the signs of bowel cancer and recommendations for prevention?

The doctor usually thinks about the possible layering of oncology with the appearance or intensification of the following subjective sensations in the patient (at least three at a time).

The signs of bowel cancer:

• general weakness;
• fast fatiguability;
• pain in a particular anatomical area of the abdomen (see the anatomy of the intestine above);
• progressive weight loss;
• a slight but persistent increase in body temperature;
• blood or mucus in the faeces;
• faeces of dark (black) colour;
• the pallor of mucous membranes and skin;
• lack of relief after effective medical manipulation.

Naturally, these signs are not an accurate indication of cancer. So, always consider the patient’s suspicion, the individual threshold of pain sensitivity and other clinically significant parameters for diagnosis. The clinical, instrumental and laboratory studies clarify the diagnosis when the doctor confirms the patient’s complaints.

Recommendations

It is inappropriate in this article to list the first macro- and microscopic changes in the intestinal wall that diagnostic physicians find in surveys, since such knowledge is purely professional.

Oncological diseases are devious as well as unpredictable. Do not expect the signs of bowel cancer to appear. In short, prevention is worth pondering in advance.

General recommendations concern the correction of lifestyle, including the following:

• increased physical activity;
• enrichment of the diet with products containing fibre;
• colonic irrigation;
• Rejection of bad habits (smoking, drinking alcohol).