Article Medically Reviewed By:
Linda S. Lee, MD
Director, Women's Health in Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women's Hospital Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA
Overview
What Is It?
Colon cancer is cancer of the large intestine or the rectum, and is often called colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States. About one in 19 people will develop cancer of the colon or rectum at some point in their lifetimes. It also is the second leading cause of cancer deaths when men and women are considered together and is the third leading cause of cancer death among women.
There are regional differences in colorectal cancer's incidence and mortality throughout the country, with the highest rates occurring among those in the Northeast, and survival rates lowest among African Americans.
The good news is that the disease is not only highly beatable and treatable, but also highly preventable. Regular screening and removal of polyps can reduce colorectal cancer risk by up to 90 percent. But unfortunately, fear, denial and embarrassment keep many people from being screened.
About 90 percent of those diagnosed with colon cancer survive five years or longer if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage. Once the cancer is larger and has spread to the lymph nodes, however, the five-year survival rate drops to 64 percent. If the cancer has already spread to distant parts of the body such as the liver or lungs, the five-year survival rate goes down to 8 percent.
The large intestine is the last section of the digestive tract and consists of the colon and rectum. The colon is four to six feet long, and the last seven to nine inches of it is called the rectum. After food is digested in the stomach and nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine, waste from this process moves into the colon, where it solidifies and remains for one or two days until it passes out of the body.
Sometimes the body produces too much tissue, ultimately forming a tumor. These tumors can be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). In the large intestine, these tumors are called polyps. Polyps are found in about 30 percent to 50 percent of adults. People with polyps in their colon tend to continue producing new polyps even after existing polyps are removed.
There are several types of polyps, the most common being hyperplastic polyps, adenomatous polyps and malignant polyps. Hyperplastic polyps are typically not precancerous. Adenomatous polyps (also called "adenomas") may undergo cancerous changes, becoming adenocarcinomas. Malignant polyps are already cancerous.
Colon cancers develop from adenomatous polyps that grow larger and eventually transform into cancer. It is believed to take about10 years for a small adenomatous polyp to grow into cancer. Therefore, if appropriate colorectal cancer screening is performed, most of these polyps can be removed before they turn into cancer, effectively pre...
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