What are the diagnostic and examination methods for colorectal cancer?

Colorectal cancer is a malignant tumor that seriously endangers the health of patients. Some friends with digestive tract discomfort just take medicine perfunctorily when they have clinical symptoms of discomfort, but ignore further examination of the disease. Colorectal cancer does not have obvious clinical symptoms in the early stages, so it is very necessary for friends with digestive tract discomfort to do relevant examinations. The following are common examination methods for colorectal cancer.

1. Laboratory examination

Blood routine, complete biochemistry (liver and kidney function + serum iron), stool routine + fecal occult blood and other laboratory tests can help understand whether the patient has iron deficiency anemia, liver and kidney function and other basic conditions. Testing for blood tumor marker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) can help diagnose tumors. In patients with colorectal cancer, high CEA levels do not mean that there is distant metastasis; in a few patients with metastatic tumors, CEA levels are not elevated.

2. Endoscopic examination

Colonoscopy is to insert a fiber colonoscope into the ileocecal region at the beginning of the colon to examine the colon and rectal cavities, and perform biopsies and treatments during the examination. Colonoscopy is more accurate than barium enema X-rays, especially for small colon polyps, which can be removed by colonoscopy and confirmed by pathology. Removal of benign polyps can prevent them from turning into colorectal cancer, and cancerous polyps can help clarify the diagnosis and treatment.

3. Biopsy and exfoliative cytology

Biopsy is of decisive significance for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer, especially early cancer and polyp cancer, as well as for differential diagnosis of lesions. It can clarify the nature, histological type and malignancy of the tumor, judge the prognosis and guide clinical treatment. Exfoliative cytology has high accuracy, but the sampling is cumbersome, and it is not easy to obtain satisfactory specimens, so it is rarely used in clinical practice.

Through the above introduction, I believe everyone has a deeper understanding of the examination methods for colorectal cancer. Common examination items for colorectal cancer include routine stool examination, liver and kidney function, etc. In addition, friends who are worried about intestinal malignancy can also do colonoscopy to determine the pathological condition of the intestine by taking tissue biopsy. The above examinations have great clinical significance for the detection of early colorectal cancer, and I hope everyone can pay attention to it.