Research conducted under the watch of Dr. Matthew Kalady, the director of the division of colon and rectal surgery at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center,has identified the earliest symptoms of colon cancer as it has now heightened in younger adults.
Prolonged diarrhea and bloody stools are common signs that made to the doctor’s list. Colorectal cancer otherwise known as colon cancer — is a disease that’s increasingly found in young adults not old enough to qualify for colonoscopy tests.
The four troubling symptoms that was accounted for during the new research were expected to show up to two years before a colon cancer diagnosis and they are;
- Abdominal pain.
- Rectal bleeding.
- Ongoing diarrhea.
- Iron deficiency anemia. Anemia is usually found in yearly blood tests
The new research was conducted by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.The research took to inclusion 5,075 people with early-onset colorectal cancer.
The goal of the research was to find symptoms that might trigger early signals of colon cancer, a disease that has in recent years, been rising among young adults, with a troubling number not being diagnosed until advanced stages.
“It can be difficult or embarrassing to talk about.But the reality is everybody deals with something like this,and it’s important to understand what’s normal and what’s not,” Dr. Matthew said.
The findings also suggested that nearly half of the study participants experienced at least one of the four recorded symptoms three months before they were diagnosed with colon cancer.
However, in regards to common symptoms like diarrhea and abdominal pain, experts say they can be normal. Yet experts have established that when these symptoms last more than a week without any known cause, the individual in question should call to see the doctor.