Colon Cancer Screening and Medical Malpractice1760499

Colon cancer is the second major result in of deaths resulting from cancer. Each year, around 48,000 folks will die in the U.S. from colon cancer. A lot of of these deaths would be prevented with early detection and therapy through routine colon cancer screening.

Colon Cancer Progresses By way of Stages

The stage of the colon cancer determines the proper therapy and determines the patient's relative 5-year survival price which is the percentage of colon cancer sufferers who reside at least 5 years following becoming diagnosed. Colon cancer progresses in stages as follows:

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

Stage 1: The cancer has started to work its way through the 1st layers of the colon - the mucosa and the submucosa.

Stage 2: The cancer has advanced beyond the first two layers of the colon and is spreading deeper by way 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 a single or a lot more of the nearby lymph nodes.

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

Screening for Colon Cancer

In order to detect colon cancer early, every person, even individuals who are not at high threat, that is, with no symptoms and with no family history of colon cancer, need to be screened. Cancer specialists suggest that screening for such people start at age 50 and consist of tests that detect colon cancer in the body:

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

These tests let a doctor to actually see the growth or cancer inside the colon. The frequency at which these tests are repeated depends on what is discovered during the procedure.

Cancer specialists also advise 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. Normally these tests are not as efficient at detecting colon cancer as these that detect cancer in the physique.

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

If the illness is detected as a tiny polyp for the duration of a routine screening test, such as a colonoscopy, the polyp can normally be taken out during the colonoscopy with out the need for the surgical removal of any of the colon.

what is colon cancer

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

If the disease advances to a Stage 3, a colon resection is no longer enough and the patient also wants to undergo chemotherapy. The relative 5-year survival price drops to 53%, based on such elements as the number of lymph nodes that include cancer.

By the time the colon cancer reaches Stage 4, therapy could demand the use of chemotherapy and other drugs and surgery on several organs. If the size and quantity of tumors in other organs (such as the liver and lungs) are modest adequate, surgery may be the initial remedy, followed by chemotherapy. In some situations the size or number of tumors in the other organs takes away the alternative of surgery as the initial therapy. If chemotherapy and other drugs can reduce the number and size of these tumors, surgery may possibly then grow to be an alternative as the second type of remedy. If not, chemotherapy and other drugs (possibly through clinical trials) might temporarily stop or reduce the continued spread of the cancer. The relative 5-year survival rate drops to roughly eight%.

As the relative 5-year survival rates indicate, the time frame in which colon cancer is detected and treated makes a dramatic difference. If detected and treated early, the individual has an superb likelihood of surviving the disease. As detection and treatment is delayed, the odds start 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 also often medical doctors do not suggest routine colon cancer screening to their sufferers. By the time the cancer is found - typically since the tumor has grown so massive that it is causing blockage, simply because the patient has unexplained anemia that is acquiring progressively worse, or due to the fact the patient begins to notice other symptoms - the colon cancer has already advanced to a Stage 3 or even a Stage 4. The individual now faces a a lot various prognosis than if the cancer had been detected early via routine screening. In health-related malpractice terms, the person has suffered a "loss of chance" of a greater recovery. That is to say, simply because the medical professional did not advise the individual to undergo routine screening, the cancer is now much far more advanced and the person has a significantly reduced likelihood of surviving the cancer. The failure of a medical professional to advise the person about screening choices for colon cancer may constitute healthcare malpractice.