Colon Cancer

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Colon Cancer would have to be one of the many cancers that Americans suffer today in the twenty-first century. Not only are Americans suffering form Colon cancer, but everyone in the whole world as well. It is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in men and women combined in the US according to Colon Cancer Alliance. Just in the USA The American Cancer Society estimates 136,830 people will be diagnosed in 2014 and 50,310 will die from colon cancer in the United States. That is an unbelievable large amount of people dying because of this cancer. Colon cancer is also known as Colorectal cancer, this process occurs in the rectum/colon area. It starts in the large intestine, the lower part of your digestive system. Most of colon cancers develop first as colorectal polyps, which are abnormal growths inside the colon that can maybe turn cancerous.
Colon Cancer is also one of the most typical inherited cancer syndromes known. This means that its been passed down in several generations of a family. There are several gene mutations that cause this cancer, which allows it to be passed down to your family members. The two known inherited colorectal cancer syndromes are hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) also known as Lynch syndrome. The second one is familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Both of these can affect male or female, and the children of people who carry these have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease-causing gene.
Lynch syndrome (HNPCC), a change/mutation in certain genes which may allow the formation of small growths of tissue called polyps. These polyps are normally not cancerous, but the ones mostly seen in the Lynch syndrome are called adenoma, which...

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...there are many stages of colon cancer. Stage 0 is very early cancer on the innermost layer of the intestine. Stage 1 the cancer is in the inner layer of the colon. Stage 2 the cancer has spread through the muscle wall of the colon. Stage 3 the cancer has advanced and spread to the lymph nodes. The last stage is 4 and the cancer has spread to the organs outside the colon.
There are treatments but it all depends on the stage the colon cancer is in. For stage 0 surgery is appropriate. It is done by using colonoscopy. For all other stages colon resection is done. Chemotherapy is done to patients that have stage 3 colon cancer after surgery for a good six to eight months.

Works Cited

Work Cite: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22218/ http://www.ccalliance.org/genetics/index.html
http://www.webmd.com/colorectal-cancer/guide/inherited-colorectal-cancer

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