Adenocarcinoma Colon Cancer

One form of the colon cancer is Adenocarcinoma. This usually stems from the epithelium lining the large intestine. The function of the colon aka the large bowel is to absorb water from the stool and patients of adenocarcinoma colon cancer usually report excessively hard stool.

Although adenocarcinoma colon cancer is not uncommon, it is rarely found in young adults. The greater your age the higher the chances of your suffering from adenocarcinoma  cancer and especially women aged over 50 years are supposed to be at the greatest risk from adenocarcinoma. Although adenocarcinoma colon is found all over the world, it is primarily found in places of low fiber diet which make America, Europe and Australia soft targets.

Adenocarcinoma colon cancer is usually found in people who have some heredity of adenomatous polyposis or even non-polyposis colorectal cancer especially if the family history is from first-degree relatives. Hereditary factors can be to an extent that adenocarcinoma colon may be found in persons as young as teenagers. Certain types of polyps have a potential for malignancy. People having a high fat yet low fiber diet especially with a high intake of red meat are the ones that are most likely to suffer from adenocarcinoma. Even obesity is a cause of adenocarcinoma colon.

Adenocarcinoma colon cancer is known to spread after invading the wall of the bowel. On crossing the muscular layer of the bowel’s wall the tumor enters the lymphatic vessels and thereafter spreads to local as well as regional lymph nodes. Sometimes the tumor can also spread through the bloodstream to the liver and even other organs of the body including the lungs, bones and even the brain. In case a lot of the tumor has passed the bowel’s wall then they float about the abdomen as small amounts of fluid and can seed the bowel’s covering. Adenocarcinoma colon is known to produce small nodules within the abdomen to irritate tissues to cause the production of huge quantities of ascites. If adenocarcinoma colon is detected at a young stage then the prognosis can be really good as at early stages treatment via surgery is really easy and predictable. However once the muscular wall has been breached by the tumor, only three fifths of the total patients are able to survive another five years!

The treatment of choice for early adenocarcinoma colon cancer is surgery. For tumors that are still proceeding to reach the muscular layer within the bowel wall, this will be curative in more than 90% of cases. Colon cancer surgery is usually carried out to remove the primary tumor for all cancers except those that have spread to distant organs.