Does having colon cancer affect pregnancy?

Colon cancer is a relatively serious malignant tumor disease. Nowadays, the high incidence of this disease makes many people shudder. The high mortality rate of colon cancer also makes many people live in fear all day long. Early prevention work is very necessary. So does colon cancer affect pregnancy? Let's find out today.

Colon cancer is a common malignant tumor of the digestive tract that occurs in the colon. Most patients are middle-aged or older, but young people also develop the disease. The male-to-female ratio is about 2:1. Its early symptoms are mainly changes in bowel habits, such as constipation, diarrhea, or alternating diarrhea. There is often a small amount of blood and mucus attached to the surface of the stool. As the disease progresses, the amount of blood in the stool gradually increases, and there is a feeling of tenesmus. Symptoms such as weight loss and anemia are progressively aggravated. In the late stage, symptoms such as jaundice, ascites, hepatomegaly, abdominal mass, intestinal obstruction, cachexia, persistent pain in the sacrum, and fecal incontinence may occur. Colon cancer generally grows slowly and metastasizes later. In addition to the above symptoms, the clinical manifestations vary depending on the location of the tumor. Colon cancer occurs most frequently in the rectum and sigmoid colon, followed by the cecum and ascending colon, transverse colon, splenic flexure, and hepatic flexure.

Can you get pregnant if you have colon cancer? If you are currently undergoing treatment for colon cancer, it is best not to get pregnant. The medication and chemotherapy during treatment will affect the health of the fetus. You can consider pregnancy under the guidance of a doctor only if there is no recurrence at least one year after stopping treatment.

According to a world epidemiological survey, the incidence of colon cancer is highest in North America, Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other places, ranking first among visceral tumors, but the incidence is very low in Asia, Africa, Latin America and other places.