A 69-year-old man, an alcoholic and smoker for 40 years, suddenly lost weight and had abdominal pain. The doctor diagnosed late-stage metastatic colon cancer.
On November 8, Doctor Pham Cam Phuong, Director of the Center for Nuclear Medicine and Oncology, Bach Mai Hospital, said that this is a case of the disease progressing silently without common symptoms in the early stages. of colon cancer, such as bloody mucus. Three months ago, he had a dull abdominal pain in the epigastric area spreading to his back, lost his appetite, lost 10 kg, and took painkillers to no avail. Two weeks before entering the hospital, he had severe pain in his lumbar spine spreading to his legs.
“This is a sign of metastasis causing bone damage,” the doctor said. Test results determined that right colon cancer had metastasized to the liver, spine, abdominal lymph nodes, adrenal gland, stage 4B with type 2 diabetes.
According to the doctor, the patient was diagnosed at a late stage and could not undergo radical surgery. Patients need nutritional care, improve physical condition, use pain relievers, targeted drugs, and chemotherapy to improve quality of life.
CT scan image of a patient’s colon cancer. Image: Hospital provided
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in December 2023 showed that people with unusual weight loss had significantly higher cancer rates within 12 months than people who maintained a normal weight. often. People with cancers of the upper digestive tract, such as esophageal, stomach, liver, biliary tract or pancreatic cancer, are more likely to lose significant weight before being diagnosed.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in Vietnam, ranking 4th in number of cases, after breast, liver and lung cancer. According to GLOBOCAN 2022, each year there are an estimated 16,835 new cases (accounting for 9.3%) and 8,454 people die from colorectal cancer. Patients often come to the doctor with symptoms of abdominal pain, loose stools or constipation, and stools mixed with blood and mucus. Many cases have vague or no symptoms, the disease is only detected when there are symptoms or metastases to other organs.
Colorectal cancer often appears in people over the age of 50. However, in recent years, patients have become increasingly younger, some in their 20s and 30s. The disease is closely related to diet and lifestyle. Warning symptoms are bloody stools, bowel habit disorders, rectal irritation, intestinal obstruction,…
If this cancer is detected early, it can be removed endoscopically or surgically to remove the tumor. In the early stages, the patient survival rate after 5 years is up to 85-90%.
Doctors recommend that for normal people, screening colonoscopy should start between 45 and 50 years old. People with a family history of polyps with genetic factors need early screening colonoscopy from 12 to 20 years old. In cases where colon polyps are not detected, colonoscopy can be performed periodically every 3-5 years. Patients with polyps detected need endoscopic removal and regular check-ups every 6 to 12 months.