CINCINNATI (WKRC) - The death of actress Kirstie Alley is the latest reminder of increasing cases of colon cancer.
The guidelines of who should be screened and when have also changed within the past few years.
Local 12 spoke with Dr. Janice Rafferty, the Chief of Colorectal Surgery for the Christ Hospital Network and Dr. Cory Barrat, a colon & rectal surgeon with Mercy Health about the issue.
“In the case of rectal cancer when there are symptoms, typically it's rectal bleeding and most patients will attribute that to hemorrhoids... And they'll go to the store and clean off everything on the shelf before they'll bring it to the attention of their doctor. So, it's really important to understand when you should be screened. It's really important to know your family history and talk to your family about what diseases run in your family so that you know, when you need to get screened,” Dr. Barrat said.
Dr. Barrat says in general, older age does put you at a higher risk for all cancers.
“But like other cancers, [colon cancer] is one that we're starting to see in younger and younger populations, in younger and younger people, and sometimes people that have no family history or otherwise are people that we wouldn't expect to get colon cancer,” Dr. Barrat said.
The screening guidelines used to say once you hit 50 years old, get a colonoscopy if you have no risk factors like family history, now, it is 45.
"We've been starting to see a higher prevalence or a higher risk of colon cancer in younger patients and actually, as a response to that, that's when the guidelines started to change, or at least the thought of changing the guidelines has happened,” Dr. Barrat said. “This is all affected by whether or not you have a family history of not only colorectal cancer, but colorectal polyps as well. So, you need to know your family's histories, all first-degree relatives, parents, siblings. Have they had polyps? Have they had cancer? Because if so, you need to start potentially before the age of 45 with your screening process.”
Dr. Rafferty and her team are seeing the same thing, younger and younger folks with colon cancer.
Both doctors say early screening and detection are key.
“It's huge. It's so important to find these things before they turn into cancer. Adenomatous polyps are the kind that have cancer as potential, and you can prevent cancer in your body. Colorectal cancer in your body. By having that polyp found and removed the risk for cancer from that polyp is essentially zero at that point,” Dr. Rafferty said. Once cancer has gone through the wall of the colon or rectum and it's in the lymph nodes, it's much harder to cure. And once it's reached another organ, it's extremely difficult to cure. So, finding these things early before they have potential impact on your life expectancy is really, really important.”
Dr. Rafferty says it’s so important for you to talk to your family to learn your medical history and risk factors.