Colorectal Cancer Can be prevented by Colonoscopy

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancer in Thailand, and the number of people who have colorectal cancer are rising every year. The cause of colorectal cancer is unknown, however, the major risk factor of colorectal cancer is eating behavior. Nowadays, people prefer consuming food that is easier, faster, and convenient to consume such as frozen food or processed food like instant noodle, sausage, etc. Most of the patients who have colorectal cancer usually have no idea that they have cancer because colorectal cancer in the early stage shows no signs and symptoms. But, if the patients have the symptoms like blood in the stool, small stool, constipation alternate with diarrhea, abdomen distention, stomach tightness, or lump in the abdomen; it means that it is in the spreading stage already, and it needs to be treated by colorectal surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or colostomy in some cases.

Basically, colorectal cancer is transformed from a polyp in the large intestine. Currently, we can already detect a polyp in the large intestine by undergoing a colonoscopy which allows the surgeon to see the, even if it is just a tiny polyp that is just 2 mm. small same as a mung bean’s size. Besides colonoscopy, the surgeon will also perform a Magnifying Narrow Band Imaging (Magnifying NBI) along with the colonoscopy which allows the surgeon to differentiate between the polyp and cancer and check if the cancer is spreading or not, in order to plan the treatment that suits each patient.

As soon as the  polyp was detected, the surgeon will remove it before it transforms into colorectal cancer by using the Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (EDS) which allows the surgeon to remove the big size of the polyp as well as the polyp that is about to turn into cancer from the large intestine without the need of doing open-surgery. Therefore, the patients who underwent this procedure have no surgical incision. This is the most effective and safest way to prevent colorectal cancer. However, the patients are recommended to undergo the colonoscopy periodically as the surgeon’s recommendation.

Undergoing the colonoscopy is just like undergoing the health check-up so there is no need to wait for any abnormalities to occur, especially on people aged over 50 years old or the people who have a family history of colorectal cancer. These people should undergo the colonoscopy periodically with a colorectal surgeon in order to receive a precise diagnosis. To reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, you should avoid the risky behaviors that may cause any abnormalities in the large intestine, such as consuming frozen food or processed food like instant noodle, sausage, etc.