3 ways to check for rectal cancer

The diagnosis of rectal cancer can be preliminarily determined based on the patient's symptoms and medical history. To make a clear diagnosis, some examination items are needed. The examination generally follows a process from simple to complicated. The commonly used clinical examination methods are the following three:

1. Fecal occult blood test

Fecal occult blood test can be used as a preliminary screening method for large-scale census or for screening of colon cancer and rectal cancer in high-risk groups of specific age groups. Patients with positive fecal occult blood test need further examination, because the detection rate of rectal cancer in asymptomatic positive patients is about 1%.

2. Digital rectal examination

Rectal examination is the most important method for diagnosing rectal cancer, because most of the rectal cancers in Chinese people are low-lying rectal cancers, which can be touched by digital examination. For patients with long-term blood in stool, changes in bowel habits, and changes in stool characteristics, rectal examination should be performed to determine the location of the tumor, the distance from the anal verge, the size of the cancer, the degree of infiltration, and the relationship with surrounding organs, which can guide the determination of surgical methods.

3. Endoscopic examination

Endoscopic examinations for rectal cancer mainly include proctoscopy, sigmoidoscopy and fiber colonoscopy. The first two are mostly used as routine examinations, which are easy to operate and do not require bowel preparation in advance. The latter is mostly used for preoperative examinations of patients with confirmed rectal cancer to clarify the nature of the tumor and the number of lesions (about 5% to 10% of colorectal cancers are multiple cancers). If necessary, biopsy can be taken for pathological examination.