Early Detection Of Colon Cancer Is The Critical for Outliving The Cancer

The second greatest number of cancer deaths is from colon cancer.. Every year, about forty eight thousand men and women will pass away as a result of colon cancer. A large number of these deaths might be prevented with early diagnosis and treatment by standard colon cancer screening in advance of when symtoms appear.







If the cancer is detected as a small polyp in the course of a regularly scheduled screening test, like a colonoscopy, the polyp may be able to be taken out during the colonoscopy. At this point, there is no need for the surgical removal of any portion of the colon. When the polyp grows into a tumor and reaches Stage 1 or Stage 2, the tumor and a section of the colon on both sides is surgical taken out. The relative 5-year survival rate is over 90% for Stage 1 and seventy three percent for Stage 2.







If the disease advancesto Stage III, surgery is not enough and the patient also needs to undergo chemotherapy. At this stage the chances that the person will continue to be alive over five years after the diagnosis falls to 53%, depending on such variables as how many lymph nodes that have cancer.







Once the colon cancer metastasizes, treatment may necessitate chemotherapy and perhaps additional drugs as well as surgery on other organs. In case the size and quantity of tumors in other organs (such as the liver and lungs) are sufficiently few, surgery on these organs might be the initial treatment, then chemotherapy. In some cases the size or quantity of tumors in the other organs removes the choice of surgery as part of the treatment.







If chemotherapy and different drugs can reduce the number and dimensions of these tumors, surgery may then turn out to be an option as the second form of treatment. If not, chemotherapy and different drugs (possibly from clinical trials) might for a time halt or reduce the further progression of the cancer. The relative 5-year survival rate drops to roughly 8%.







The statistics are clear. The time frame in which the cancer is detected and treated results in a significant difference. If found and treated early, the person has an excellent chance of outliving the disease. When diagnosis and treatment is delayed, the probability starts shifting against the person so that if the cancer progresses to the lymph nodes, the probability is nearly even. And the probability is reduced precipitously once the cancer gets to Stage IV.







But, all too often doctors fail to suggest routine cancer testing to their patients. By the time the cancer is finally detected - many times due to the fact that the tumor has become so large that it is leading to blockage, because the patient has unexplained anemia that is getting progressively worse, or because the patient begins to detect other indications - the colon cancer is a Stage 3 or even a Stage 4. The person now faces a very different outlook than if the cancer had been diagnosed early through standard screening tests.







In medical malpractice terms, the individual has suffered a "loss of chance" of a better recovery. In other words, because the doctor did not recommend that the patient have a routine screening test, the cancer is now considerably more advanced and the person has a much lower chance of outliving the cancer. The failure of a doctor to advise the individual have screening options for colon cancer might constitute medical malpractice.



You can learn more about cases involving colon cancer metastasis and other cancer matters including breast cancer metastasis by visiting the websites