Many area people are missing bad news fortunately delivered early for what proves to be much worse news unfortunately coming late.
That is, colorectal cancer can be very curable when diagnosed early but very difficult to cure in an advanced stage. And numerous people hereabouts miss detecting the condition early enough to head it off at the pass.
Medical authorities say that, despite the availability of routine screening for early signs of even pre-cancerous conditions, a majority of people with colorectal cancer in Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee aren't diagnosed with the condition until it fully develops, then spreads.
The Kentucky Cancer Registry says only about 45 percent of colorectal cancer cases diagnosed in the state during a recent year (2004) were caught in an early stage. That compared to early stage diagnosis for 66 percent of breast cancers and 81 percent of prostate cancers in Kentucky that year.
The underlying cause of too many colorectal cancers being detected late -- often too late to save a life that could have been preserved -- is that lots of Kentuckians don't heed recommendations for screening that could catch cancers or pre-cancerous conditions before they turn deadly.
The Centers for Disease Control in 2004 reported that only about 40 percent of Kentuckians surveyed said they had a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy in the preceding five years. In Illinois, Tennessee and Missouri it was even worse, with reported percentages of just 39, 45 and 43 respectively having had the screenings.
According to the American Cancer Society, men and women of average risk should follow one of five screening options beginning at age 50:
--Yearly stool blood test or fecal immunochemical test.
--A flexible sigmoidoscopy to examine the inside of the colon for polyps or cancer once every five years.
--A stool blood test and sigmoidoscopy every five years.
--A double contrast barium enema every five years.
--A colonoscopy, the "gold standard" on inner colon examinations, once every 10 years.
Risk factors that may bring recommendations for more frequent colon screenings start with age, according to the American Cancer Society. Colorectal cancer odds go up after age 50, and more than 90 percent of such cancers are in people older than 50.
A family history of colorectal cancer, polyps or syndromes that result in polyps reflects raised cancer possibilities for a person.
Evidence suggests long-term smoking as well as moderate alcohol consumption may increase risk of colorectal cancer, says the ACS.
In addition, being overweight and having a diet high in fat are both associated with higher colorectal cancer risks, says the cancer society.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Paducah Sun, Ky.
