You can get hereditary colon cancer without a family history

With the change of dietary structure in modern society, the intake of high-fat and high-calorie foods has increased, leading to a rising incidence of colon cancer. According to statistics, there are 130,000 new cases of colorectal cancer in my country every year, and the annual increase is 4%, which is close to that of developed Western countries.

Since colon cancer has a certain family history, some people think that they do not have a family history of colon cancer, so they do not need to worry about the occurrence of colon cancer. In fact, this is not the case.

Clinically, about 60% to 70% of patients with familial adenoma have a clear family history of colorectal cancer or polyps and carry gene mutations inherited from previous generations; about 30% of colon cancer patients are new cases with no family history. These patients are often not discovered to have colon cancer until polyps or cancer symptoms appear.

The occurrence of colorectal cancer in these patients is related to gene mutation. When young people have symptoms such as blood in the stool, changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, anemia, and weight loss, they should pay close attention and perform colonoscopy or barium enema examinations. If colonoscopy or barium enema examinations reveal hundreds or thousands of polyps in the colorectum, the possibility that the patient has colon cancer should be considered first. By understanding the distribution of polyps through colonoscopy, taking biopsies of polyps and suspected cancerous lesions, and removing some polyps, the symptoms of some patients can be alleviated while clarifying the diagnosis.