Large Bowel Cancer Symptoms

Bowel cancer is also known as rectal, colorectal or colon cancer. Usually the people over 60 years of age are at the end of being diagnosed with this disease.

When one of the cells in the colon develops a sequence of changes (mutations) in some of the genes which control how the cell divides and survives, the cancer starts to develop. Because of which the cell splits uncontrollably to structure a cluster of malevolent cells which are cancerous in nature. Primarily, adenomas in the form of polyp, which are a clump of pea sized abnormal cells, are created.

The large bowel, also known as the colon, is the very last section of the digestive structure. Various nutrients are absorbed as the food passes through the small bowel, after which the food waste passes through colon (large bowel) where it develops into more firm phizog.

The colon has three parts, namely, the ascending, transverse and descending colon. It is at the end of the colon, that is, at the rectum, where phizog gets collected before it passes through the anus as a bowel movement.

Since bowel cancer develops very slowly therefore it takes many years for the tumor to grow large enough to cause symptoms. Some of the common symptoms for bowel cancer are as follows:

• Continual change in bowel habits such as constipation and/or diarrhoea
• Blood or mucus in the faeces
• Unexplained weight loss or lack of appetite
• Pain in the stomach or lump in the abdomen
• Feeling of a bowel even after a bowel motion
• Tiredness

Though the exact cause of bowel cancer is still unknown to the research scientists, however there still exist various factors such as specific genetic mutations or inherited diseases known to influence the condition which make people at higher risk. According to various researches’ people with high diet in animal fat and protein and low fibre intake are at a greater risk of developing bowel cancer, along with people with high intake of alcohol. Therefore, it becomes harder to treat in the advanced stages.

People having a family history of bowel cancer are also at a higher risk of developing the cancer however in only 5-10% that the illness resembles.
Tiredness can be a symptom of bowel cancer as it can be caused by the bowel tumour bleeding which may result in shortage of red blood cells. This is known as anaemia.

Copyright 2009