What Is Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer is the cancer of the rectum and colon located in the lower end of the digestive tract. It affects 1 million people in India. Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in men and women. Colorectal cancer starts in rectum or colon, which can spread to other organs and can damage them
Other Symptoms Of Liver Disease
Beyond pain, there are other telltale markers of liver disease you should be on the lookout for so that you can let your healthcare provider know. Some of these include:
- Jaundice
- Easy bruising
- Itchy skin
- Loss of appetite
While many gastrointestinal issues can be a bit ambiguous and could mean many things, several of these symptoms point directly to liver problems, especially jaundice, pale stools, and a distended stomach. If you have liver or abdominal pain along with any of these symptoms, you should see your physician immediately.
Treatment Of Colon Cancer
The treatment of colon cancer depends on the stage, a particular situation, and cancer location. The treatment of colon cancer generally involves the removal of cancer cells by colon cancer surgery. Here is the treatment for colon cancer:-
Surgery for colon cancer in early stage
- Removing polyps- If the cancer is localized or small, which is contained in the polyp at a very early stage, the doctor can remove the polyp with polypectomy during colonoscopy.
- Minimally invasive surgery- In this treatment, if the polyp is not removed during colonoscopy, then your doctor laparoscopic surgery. In this colon cancer surgery, a minimal incision is done in the abdominal wall by the surgeon.
Treatment for advanced stages
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What Causes Liver Cancer
Livercancer can be primary or secondary. Secondary liver cancer, also known as metastatic liver disease, develops due to the spread of cancer from other organs, such as the breast.
Primary liver cancer refers to the uncontrolled division of the cell that begins in the liver. This happens when there a mutation in the deoxyribonucleic acid that causes the DNA to malfunction. The DNA is the gene code that instructs the cells when to divide, grow, or die. If the DNA that controls the cells malfunctions, cells go on dividing and growing excessively, and they fail to die at the expected rate. This causes a buildup of abnormal cells in the bladder that leads to harmful liver cancer.
Sometimes the cause of primary liver cancer cannot be found out. It may happen without any pre-existing illness. Certain factors have been seen to increase the risk of developing it. These include:
A Consultant Explains Why Some Patients With Pancreatic Cancer First Become Jaundiced And Why
And what are the symptoms of pancreatic cancer?So its quite complicated.
Pancreatic cancer can be difficult to diagnose because most pain in the abdomen is due to other things. Initially doctors may suspect pancreatitis, a stomach or duodenal ulcer, a pulled muscle, irritable bowel syndrome , a hiatus hernia or gall stones.
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Things That Can Harm The Liver
While some liver diseases are genetic, others are caused by viruses or toxins, such as drugs and poisons. Some risk factors, according to the Mayo Clinic, include drug or heavy alcohol consumption, having a blood transfusion before 1992, high levels of triglycerides in the blood, diabetes, obesity and being exposed to other people’s blood and bodily fluids. This can happen from shared drug needles, unsanitary tattoo or body piercing needles, and unprotected sex.
Alcohol is big player in liver damage. It is believed that alcohol could possibly change the type of fungi living in the liver, leading to disease, according to a small study published May 22, 2017, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. If this is true, it could lead to new treatment options. The findings suggest that “we might be able to slow the progression of alcoholic liver disease by manipulating the balance of fungal species living in a patient’s intestine,” study co-author Dr. Bernd Schnabl, an associate professor of gastroenterology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said in a statement.
Additional reporting by Alina Bradford, Live Science contributor.
Additional Resources
An Abdominal Mass Or Lump
You may feel a very hard lump or swelling in the region just below your rib cage on your right side. Often, this mass is painless, and if you have pain, you may feel more discomfort in the areas surrounding the mass.
Sometimes liver cancer causes enlargement of the spleen as well, which can result in pain or a mass felt in the left upper abdomen.
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How Common Is Cirrhosis
Scientists estimate that cirrhosis of the liver affects about one in 400 adults in the U.S. It affects about 1 in 200 adults age 45 to 54, the age group most commonly affected by cirrhosis. Cirrhosis causes about 26,000 deaths each year in the U.S. and is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. among adults 25 to 64 years of age.
Tips To Reduce Your Chances Of Getting Back Pain
However, there are few things that one can take care of while working from home including finding time out from a busy schedule to stroll for at least half an hour after work.
If that is also not possible then we need to get up in between and walk around the house a bit maintaining an ideal height of the laptop and their work screen and adjusting the height of the computer screen at or slightly below the eye level.
Another effective measure one can take to protect their back is by keeping a hard pillow on the chair for back support. This will reduce the chances of back strain.
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How To Cope With Pain
- Keep track of your pain in a symptom diary. Try to describe what the pain feels like, how intense it is, exactly where it is, where it comes from and travels to, how long it lasts, and if it goes away with a specific pain medicine or with any other therapy, such as a heat pack.
- Allow a few days for your body to adjust to the dose of pain medicine and for any drowsiness to improve.
- Let your doctor know if you have vivid dreams, nausea or other side effects after taking a strong pain medicine such as morphine. Adjusting the dose may help or you can try other methods of pain relief.
- Use a laxative regularly to prevent or relieve constipation from codeine or morphine.
- Take pain medicine regularly as prescribed, even when youre not in pain. Its better to stay on top of the pain.
When To See Your Doctor
If you notice any colorectal cancer symptoms persistent, quickly make an appointment with an oncologist. Talk to your doctor about the symptoms, and the doctor will recommend you image tests and begin screening for colon cancer. If you have a family history of cancer, then get yourself diagnosed and screened for colon cancer.
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How Lung Cancer And Back Pain Are Linked
When we think about back pain, usually the last thing that comes to mind is cancer. Instead, we associate it with things like physical trauma or a degenerative disease .
While back pain caused by lung cancer shares commonalities with many of these disorders, it also has a distinct difference. Much of these relate to how and where the cancer causes pain, both directly and indirectly. Some of the possible ways in which lung cancer can produce back pain include:
- The direct pressure a tumor can place on the structure of the back, more often than not, is in the mid to upper back rather than lower back.
- A malignancy can irritate the nerves servicing the lining of the lungs and chest wall, triggering a sharp and sometimes chronic nerve pain.
- Cancer spread from the lungs to the spine and bones is an occurrence shared by upwards of 30% of people with lung cancer.
- Metastasis of cancer to the adrenal glands , can cause localized pain due to its location right above the kidney.
At the current time, the majority of people who develop lung cancer are non-smokers , and lung cancer is increasing in young women and men who have never smoked.
In fact, due to the location of the type of lung cancer most common in non-smokers, the typical symptoms most people associate with lung cancer are often absent. These tumors are also more likely than other kinds of lung cancer to spread to bones.
What Can I Expect If I Have Cirrhosis
Damage already done to your liver is permanent. But your liver is a large organ. If part of your liver is still working, you might be able to slow the progression of disease, depending on its cause. For instance, if your cirrhosis is caused by alcohol abuse, you need to stop drinking immediately. If you are obese or have diabetes, you will need to lose weight and manage your blood sugar so you can lower the damage caused by fatty liver disease.
You and your healthcare provider or team will work together to determine whats causing your cirrhosis and what complications may have resulted from your cirrhosis and treat them accordingly.
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Warning Symptoms Of Pancreatic Cancer
Signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer often don’t occur until the disease is advanced. They may include:
#ABDOMINAL PAIN: In the majority of the cases, the symptoms can be as mild and generic as abdominal pain, weight loss, or development of diabetes, etc making it difficult to diagnose at the initial stage.
#JAUNDICE: Pancreatic cancer can also be asymptomatic at an early stage while jaundice may appear in an advanced stage of the disease. In such cases, when patients suffer from jaundice they can feel itchiness all over the body due to the deposit of bile salt crystals under the skin.
#LOSS OF APPETITE: One of the most warning signs of pancreatic cancer is the loss of appetite. Never ignore this sign
Risk Factors For Liver Cancer
There are some things that can make you more likely to develop primary liver cancer. These are called risk factors and they include long-term infection with the hepatitis B or C virus, smoking and liver scarring, known as cirrhosis.
Cirrhosis may develop slowly over months or years. These are some of the things that can cause cirrhosis:
- hepatitis B or C
- alcohol consumption
- type 2 diabetes
- genetic disorders such as iron overload or low levels of a particular protein that can cause tissue in the lungs and liver to break down .
Having these risk factors doesnt mean you will develop primary liver cancer. Sometimes there is no clear reason for getting primary liver cancer. If you are worried about your risk factors, ask your doctor for advice.
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Liver Cancer: Expert Discusses Symptoms And Treatments
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Liver cancer symptoms often dont show up until the later stages of the disease, but sometimes they may show up sooner. While a lump in the right side of your tummy, where the liver is located is one of the main symptoms, other parts of the body can be affected.
Pain in the abdomen is another common symptom, according to American Cancer Society, but this can also be accompanied by pain near the right shoulder blade.
The tumour, or spread from the tumour, can irritate nerves that tell your brain the pain is coming from your shoulder blade, when its actually coming from the liver.
The pain is typically felt in the right shoulder, though it may occur on either side.
The pain may also extend into your back.
Other symptoms of liver cancer are listed by the NHS as:
- Skin or whites of the eyes turning yellow . You may also have itchy skin, darker pee and paler poo than usual
- Loss of appetite or losing weight without trying to
- Feeling generally unwell or having symptoms like flu
Other symptoms can affect a persons digestion, such as:
- Feeling or being sick
- Symptoms of indigestion, such as feeling full very quickly when eating
- A very swollen tummy that is to related to when you eat
Nhs Choices: Liver Disease
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Non-alcoholic liver disease is a potentially life-threatening condition characterised by a build-up of fat in the liver. It is strongly tied to chronic disease markers, such as obesity and high blood sugar levels. Pain in these four body regions could indicate your risk.
Liver pain can take several forms warning that something is not quite right.
Most people feel it as a dull, throbbing sensation in the upper right abdomen.
Liver pain can also feel like a stabbing sensation that takes ones breath away.
Sometimes this pain is accompanied by swelling, and occasionally people feel radiating liver pain in their back or in their right shoulder blade.
Liver disease refers to any condition that causes liver inflammation or damage, and that may affect liver function. Liver pain is often a sign of liver disease.
Liver pain can be dull and nonspecific, but it can also be severe, said Medical News Today.
The health site added: It may result in a backache. Liver pain is sometimes confused with a pain in the right shoulder, or in the abdomen, or the kidney.
Many liver diseases and other organ conditions can cause liver pain.
That means that your body will react by showing signs of toxicity.
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The Effect Of Alcohol
According to the American Liver Foundation, chronic alcohol misuse is the leading cause of cirrhosis in the U.S.
Normally, the liver breaks down alcohol and removes it from the body. If a person consumes more alcohol than the liver can process, liver cells may be damaged or destroyed.
A high alcohol intake can lead to a buildup of fat and inflammation in the liver, and this can result in alcoholic cirrhosis.
Cirrhosis due to alcohol cannot be reversed even after stopping drinking, but cutting out alcohol can prevent further damage, and it may help improve symptoms.
Symptoms That Resemble Other Conditions
The symptoms of pancreatic cancer may be similar to those of other conditions or medical problems, which can delay diagnosis even further. Upon diagnosis, patients often look back and start to make a connection between various symptoms that seemed unrelated or unremarkable at the time.
Listen to your body and consult with your doctor about any new symptoms you may be experiencing, even if you think they can be explained. While cancer is probably not the culprit, diagnostic tests can help to confirm the case.
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Chemotherapy And Transarterial Chemoembolisation
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill or damage cancer cells. Traditional chemotherapy may be used to treat secondary cancer in liver, but traditional chemotherapy is rarely used for primary liver cancer. Instead transarterial chemoembolisation, or TACE, delivers high doses of chemotherapy directly to the tumour. It is usually used for people who cant have surgery or are waiting for a liver transplant.
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Some people recalled that they had initially developed jaundice. Jaundice is caused by a blockage in the biliary system, which is the drainage system of the gallbladder, liver, and pancreas. The blockage causes yellow coloured bile to leak into the bloodstream leading to itching, a yellowish pigmentation of the skin and the whites of the eyes and darkened urine and pale stools. The blockage will also stop digested food from passing into the small bowel, sometimes causing symptoms of indigestion, nausea and vomiting after eating, particularly at night.
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Back Pain Can Signify Serious Health Issues
In some cases, however, back pain could also mean a serious health issue such as pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer develops in the tissues of the pancreas – an organ in the abdomen that lies behind the lower part of your stomach.
According to a report by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences , the cases of pancreatic cancer in India is on the rise. The incidence of pancreatic cancer in India is 0.5-2.4 per 100,000 men and 0.2-1.8 per 100,000 women. It is the 11th most widely prevalent cancer in the country and has an extremely low survival rate if undetected and un-operated at the initial stage, says the doctor.
