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 Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of
cancer-related deaths in the United States, according to the
American Cancer Society. The lifetime risk of developing colorectal
cancer is one in 20. The risk is slightly higher in men than in
women. Logan County had 20.5 colon cancer deaths per
100,000 people from 2006 to 2010, the most recent range of
statistics available from the National Cancer Institute. That’s
higher than the statewide rate of 18.1 deaths per 100,000.
The rate for men in Logan County is 24.8 deaths per 100,000 and for
women is 15.5 per 100,000.
“You can have precancerous polyps and early-stage colorectal cancer
without a single symptom,” said Dr. Richard Bivin, a family medicine
physician with Memorial Physician Services-Lincoln and president of
the medical staff at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital. “Colon
cancer frankly doesn’t care if you’re a man or a woman, how busy you
are or how reluctant you are to be tested.”
That’s why Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital wants to encourage
people who are 50 years old or older to be screened for colon cancer
in March, which is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, Bivin
said.
If everyone who was 50 years old or older had regular screening
tests, at least 60 percent of deaths from colorectal cancer could be
avoided, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
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Colorectal cancer usually starts from polyps in the colon or
rectum. A polyp is a growth that shouldn’t be there. Over time, some
polyps can turn into cancer, the CDC said.
Screening tests, such as a colonoscopy, can find polyps and
remove them before they turn to cancer. During a colonoscopy, the
physician uses a long, thin, flexible, lighted tube to check for
polyps or cancer inside the rectum and the entire colon.
The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 136,000 new
cases of colorectal cancer will be diagnosed in the United States
this year, and more than 50,000 will die.
For more information, call (217) 605-5370.
[Text received from
ABRAHAM LINCOLN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL]
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