What to check for early colon cancer

For a disease like colon cancer, if it is not discovered and diagnosed in time in the early stage of the disease, it is easy to have worsening symptoms. Therefore, it is important for everyone to pay more attention to the early diagnosis of the disease and timely and effective treatment. When many people suspect that they have colon cancer, they don’t know what tests to do for the early diagnosis of colon cancer. Let’s follow the experts to learn about it!

How exactly can colon cancer be diagnosed? The following is a detailed introduction by experts.

1. Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) test: It has no specificity for detecting and diagnosing colon cancer. Increased values ​​are often related to tumor growth. They can return to normal values ​​after complete resection of the colon tumor. They can increase several weeks before recurrence. Therefore, it is helpful for estimating prognosis, monitoring efficacy and recurrence, and is of great significance for the examination of colon cancer.

2. B-ultrasound scan, CT or MRI examination: They cannot directly diagnose colon cancer, but they are valuable for determining the location, size, connection with surrounding tissues, lymph node and liver metastasis of the tumor. This type of colon cancer examination is mainly used to know the degree of tumor infiltration into the intestinal tract and whether there is local lymph node or distant organ metastasis. It can be used for preoperative staging and postoperative review.

3. X-ray examination: This type of colon cancer examination includes barium meal examination of the entire digestive tract and barium enema examination. It can observe the overall shape of the colon, whether there are multiple polyps and multiple cancer foci, and provide a basis for surgical treatment of patients with colon cancer. The initial signs of the lesion may be intestinal wall stiffness and mucosal damage, followed by constant filling defects and intestinal stenosis. The double contrast examination of air-barium is more effective.

What tests are needed to diagnose colon cancer in its early stages? Experts point out that people need to pay attention to one point in their lives, whether they are sick or dealing with other people. Only by firmly grasping this point can patients better get rid of the torture of the disease and people can handle things more successfully. Therefore, it is very necessary to actively seize the opportunity to treat colon cancer.