3/17/09

Colon cancer

Colon cancer is the second leading cancer killer, yet it can be prevented.

About 150,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with colon cancer each year and nearly 50,000 will die from it.  But colon cancer can be prevented through early screening and treatment, says Dr. Russell Yang, professor and chief of gastroenterology at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield.

SOUND BITE:  “The prevention comes in early recognition of a patient with the right symptoms and they undergo a screening process where they identify a precancerous lesion and those are called polyps.  If you let polyps grow larger in size or get more numerous, you actually are at greater risk for developing cancer, and that’s why screening for colon cancer becomes so important because you can remove them early and even prevent or minimize the chance of a patient ever getting to the stage where they might develop into cancer.” 

Dr. Yang says screening for colon cancer is recommended for an individual to begin at age 50 if there is no family history of the disease.  If there is a family history, screening should start earlier.  He explains some tests used for screening colon cancer.

SOUND BITE:   “. . . colonoscopy, which means you look at every single millimeter or so of intestinal lining and that’s still the gold standard for the diagnosis and screening of colon cancer.  Now what’s interesting is that you can do a special kind of CT scan and it’s called a virtual colonoscopy.”

Dr. Yang says some basic steps people can take to decrease their risk of getting colon cancer are to eat balanced meals—high in fiber, with lots of fruits and vegetables, drink a lot of fluids and minimize their intake of animal fats.

This is Ruth Slottag, SIU School of Medicine in Springfield.