Family History Of Colon Cancer? Get A Colorectal Screening Today
If someone in your family experienced colon cancer recently or in the past, you may wonder if the cancer can affect you as well. Although it doesn't happen in every case of colon cancer, heredity can be a risk factor for some people. A colorectal cancer screening can help you learn whether or not you're at risk for colon cancer. Learn more about colon cancer and how a colorectal screening can provide the answers you seek.
What, Exactly, Is Colon Cancer?
Colon cancer, or colorectal cancer, is a disease that develops in your colon or rectum. The cancer usually shows up as precancerous growths called polyps or tumors. Polyps can group together and form clusters inside the colon and rectum.
Polyps can be benign or malignant. Although benign polyps can increase in size over time, they usually don't spread to other parts of the body. However, malignant growths can spread quickly throughout the body. If you have a history of colon cancer in your family, the growths may take months or years to develop.
You can inherit the genes for colon cancer if someone in your immediate family has it, such as your mother or sibling. If your grandparents, aunts, or uncles have colon cancer, you may also be at risk for the disease. Older individual family members are particularly vulnerable to colorectal cancer.
If you're uncertain or unsure about your risk factors for colon cancer, get a colorectal screening soon.
What Exactly Does a Screening Look For?
For some people, a colon cancer screening may seem frightening to them. However, the screenings can uncover polyps and other signs of cancer before they drastically change your life. The screenings allow doctors to treat you right away.
The easiest way to detect polyps or changes in your colon or rectum is the stool test. The stool test allows physicians to detect abnormal findings in your stool, including blood. Polyps can cause blood to leak into your stool.
Some types of stool tests may also reveal changes in your DNA. Colon cancer can alter the cells in the colon and rectum. The altered DNA can also trigger bleeding and other issues in your colon and rectum.
If physicians don't find anything wrong with your stool, they may ask you to undergo a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy. Both types of procedures allow doctors to examine the internal walls of your colon and rectum. If doctors uncover polyps inside your colon or rectum, they may remove pieces of the growths and examine them under a high-powered microscope. The microscope can determine whether or not you have benign or malignant cancer. Physicians will use the information to begin your treatment.
Learn more about colorectal cancer screenings by contacting a testing physician today.