Colon Cancer Screening and Medical Malpractice2277964

Colon cancer is the second leading trigger of deaths resulting from cancer. Every single year, approximately 48,000 men and women will die in the U.S. from colon cancer. Numerous of these deaths would be prevented with early detection and therapy through routine colon cancer screening.

Colon Cancer Progresses By means of Stages

The stage of the colon cancer determines the suitable remedy and determines the patient's relative 5-year survival rate which is the percentage of colon cancer sufferers who reside at least 5 years after getting diagnosed. Colon cancer progresses in stages as follows:

Stage : The disease begins as a small non-cancerous development, named a polyp, in the colon. Some of these polyps grow to be precancerous, and over time, turn cancerous. Development has not progressed beyond the inner layer (mucosa) of the colon.

Stage 1: The cancer has began to function its way by way of the 1st layers of the colon - the mucosa and the submucosa.

Stage 2: The cancer has advanced beyond the initial two layers of the colon and is spreading deeper by means of the wall of the colon into the muscularis and the serosa but is not in the lymph nodes or distant organs.

Stage 3: The cancer has spread to one or much more of the nearby lymph nodes.

Stage 4: The cancer has spread to other organs (typically the liver or the lungs).

Screening for Colon Cancer

In order to detect colon cancer early, everybody, even folks who are not at high risk, that is, with no symptoms and with no household history of colon cancer, should be screened. Cancer specialists recommend that screening for such folks start at age 50 and consist of tests that detect colon cancer in the physique:

Colonoscopy, at least every ten years, Sigmoidoscopy, at least each 5 years, Double-contrast Barium Enema, at least every single 5 years, or Virtual Colonoscopy (computed tomographic colonography), at least each 5 years

These tests permit a medical doctor to truly see the growth or cancer inside the colon. The frequency at which these tests are repeated depends on what is located in the course of the procedure.

Cancer specialists also suggest tests that appear for blood in the stool, such as:

Annual Guaiac-based Fecal Occult Blood Test (gFOBT)

Such tests detect the presence of blood from tumors in the stool. Generally these tests are not as efficient at detecting colon cancer as those that detect cancer in the physique.

Stage of Colon Cancer Determines Treatment options and Relative 5-Year Survival Prices

If the disease is detected as a tiny polyp for the duration of a routine screening test, such as a colonoscopy, the polyp can usually be taken out for the duration of the colonoscopy with out the require for the surgical removal of any of the colon.

colon cancer symptoms

When the polyp becomes a tumor and reaches Stage 1 or Stage 2, the tumor and a portion of the colon on each sides is surgical removed. The relative 5-year survival rate is over 90% for Stage 1 and 73% for Stage 2.

If the illness advances to a Stage 3, a colon resection is no longer enough and the patient also demands to undergo chemotherapy. The relative 5-year survival rate drops to 53%, based on such factors as the quantity of lymph nodes that contain cancer.

By the time the colon cancer reaches Stage 4, remedy may call for the use of chemotherapy and other drugs and surgery on numerous organs. If the size and number of tumors in other organs (such as the liver and lungs) are tiny adequate, surgery might be the initial treatment, followed by chemotherapy. In some instances the size or quantity of tumors in the other organs takes away the selection of surgery as the initial therapy. If chemotherapy and other drugs can minimize the number and size of these tumors, surgery could then grow to be an alternative as the second form of treatment. If not, chemotherapy and other drugs (possibly through clinical trials) could temporarily stop or minimize the continued spread of the cancer. The relative 5-year survival price drops to around eight%.

As the relative 5-year survival rates indicate, the time frame in which colon cancer is detected and treated tends to make a dramatic difference. If detected and treated early, the individual has an exceptional opportunity of surviving the illness. As detection and remedy is delayed, the odds start off turning against the individual so that by the time the colon cancer progresses to Stage 3, the percentage is almost even. And the odds drop precipitously when the colon cancer reaches Stage 4.

Failure to Screen for Colon Cancer May Constitute Healthcare Malpractice

Unfortunately, all too often doctors do not advocate routine colon cancer screening to their individuals. By the time the cancer is discovered - often since the tumor has grown so massive that it is causing blockage, simply because the patient has unexplained anemia that is obtaining progressively worse, or since the patient begins to notice other symptoms - the colon cancer has currently sophisticated to a Stage 3 or even a Stage 4. The person now faces a considerably different prognosis than if the cancer had been detected early through routine screening. In medical malpractice terms, the person has suffered a "loss of chance" of a much better recovery. That is to say, due to the fact the physician did not advise the individual to undergo routine screening, the cancer is now a lot more sophisticated and the individual has a much decreased likelihood of surviving the cancer. The failure of a medical doctor to advise the individual about screening possibilities for colon cancer could constitute health-related malpractice.