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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 chair of the
medical executive committee 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.
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.
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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.
Free colon cancer screening kits will be distributed at Abraham
Lincoln Memorial Hospital on March 24 from 8 a.m. to Noon and on
March 25 from Noon to 4 p.m. Additionally, the kits will
be available at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital booth at the
Community Health Fair being held at the Lincoln Park District
from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. The kits are being
provided by the Regional Cancer Partnership.
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, visit ALMH.org.
[Angela Stoltzenburg, Abraham Lincoln
Memorial Hospital]
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