Late-stage symptoms of bowel cancer

With the improvement of living standards, people's dietary structure has undergone earth-shaking changes. Various kinds of delicious food appear on people's tables, but eating too well is not a good thing. As a result, the incidence of colorectal cancer has increased, especially among people in their forties and fifties. The occurrence of colorectal cancer is closely related to diet. Eating too much high-fat food and too little low-fiber food. In addition, irregular lifestyle and genetics also have a certain relationship.

Intestinal cancer is divided into rectal cancer and colon cancer. The symptoms of each type are different. Intestinal cancer usually has no obvious symptoms in the early stages. Many people discover it in the late stages and can only be controlled through surgery, radiation, or other auxiliary treatments. So let us understand the symptoms of colorectal cancer in the late stages.

Clinical manifestations

There are no symptoms or mild symptoms in the early stages of colorectal cancer, including discomfort, indigestion, and occult blood in the stool. As the cancer progresses, symptoms gradually appear, including changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, blood in the stool, abdominal mass, intestinal obstruction, etc., with or without systemic symptoms such as anemia, fever and weight loss. Tumor metastasis and infiltration can cause changes in affected organs. Colorectal cancer presents different clinical symptoms and signs depending on its location.

1. Right colon cancer

The main clinical symptoms of right-sided colon disease are loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, anemia, fatigue, and abdominal pain. Right-sided colon cancer causes iron deficiency anemia, with symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, and shortness of breath. Because the intestinal cavity of the right colon is wide, abdominal symptoms will not appear until the tumor grows to a certain size. This is also one of the main reasons why the tumor is diagnosed at a late stage.

2. Left colon cancer

The intestinal lumen of the left colon is narrower than that of the right colon, and left-side colon cancer is more likely to cause complete or partial intestinal obstruction. Intestinal obstruction leads to changes in bowel habits, such as constipation, bloody stools, diarrhea, abdominal pain, abdominal cramps, and bloating. Fresh blood in the stool indicates that the tumor is located at the end of the left colon or rectum. The disease is often diagnosed earlier than right-sided colon cancer.

3. Rectal cancer

The main clinical symptoms of rectal cancer are blood in the stool, changes in bowel habits and obstruction. If the tumor is located lower and the feces are harder, the friction of the feces can easily cause bleeding, which is mostly bright red or dark red. It does not mix with the formed feces or attach to the surface of the fecal column, and is misdiagnosed as "hemorrhoidal" bleeding. Secondary infection of lesion irritation and mass ulcers continuously induces defecation reflex, which can be easily misdiagnosed as "enteritis" or "bacillary dysentery". The tumor grows in a ring shape, causing narrowing of the intestinal lumen, which manifests in the early stages as deformation and thinning of the fecal column, and in the late stages as incomplete obstruction.

4. Tumor Infiltration and Metastasis

The most common form of infiltration of colorectal cancer is local invasion, in which the tumor invades surrounding tissues or organs, causing corresponding clinical symptoms. Anal incontinence and persistent pain in the lower abdomen and lumbosacral region are caused by rectal cancer invading the sacral plexus. Tumor cells implant and metastasize to the abdominal and pelvic cavity, forming corresponding symptoms and signs. Rectal examination may reveal a mass in the rectocele or uterorectal fossa. The tumor implants and metastasizes extensively in the abdominal and pelvic cavity, forming ascites. There are two main ways for colorectal cancer to metastasize: lymph node metastasis and hematogenous metastasis. Tumor cells can metastasize to lymph nodes through lymphatic vessels, and can also metastasize to the liver, lungs, bones and other parts through the bloodstream.

Everyone has a corresponding understanding of the late-stage symptoms of colorectal cancer. So if you want to avoid the occurrence of colorectal cancer, you must develop good living habits in your daily life, have a reasonable diet, eat more foods high in fiber, try to avoid constipation, and do more exercise appropriately, all of which will have a certain preventive effect on the occurrence of colorectal cancer.