What are the common symptoms of colorectal cancer patients

Colorectal cancer is a relatively common digestive tract tumor. Because the early symptoms are not obvious or lack specificity, many patients are unable to catch the signals of colorectal cancer in time, resulting in misdiagnosis and endangering their lives.

1. Digestive tract symptoms

In the earliest stage, patients may experience abdominal distension, discomfort, and indigestion-like symptoms, followed by changes in bowel habits, such as increased frequency of bowel movements, diarrhea or constipation, abdominal pain before defecation, etc. Later, they may have mucus in the stool or mucopurulent blood in the stool.

2. Abdominal mass

Abdominal masses may be cancer itself, or they may be infiltrated and adhered to the omentum and surrounding tissues. The former is more regular in shape and has clear outlines, while the latter is less regular in shape. The mass is generally hard in texture, and some may have a certain degree of mobility along the intestinal tract.

3. Symptoms of poisoning

As the tumor spreads and infiltrates more severely, the tumor surface ulcerates, blood loss and toxin absorption can cause the patient to experience anemia, low fever, fatigue, weight loss, edema and other symptoms, especially anemia and weight loss.

4. Abdominal cramps

When colorectal cancer patients have intestinal obstruction, they may experience severe abdominal colic, accompanied by abdominal distension, hyperperistalsis, constipation and difficulty passing gas. In chronic obstruction, the abdominal pain is more severe and persistent, and the stool contains blood and mucus. Partial intestinal obstruction sometimes lasts for several months before turning into complete intestinal obstruction.