Colorectal
Cancer is cancer that occurs
in the colon or rectum. Sometimes
it is called colon cancer, for short.
The colon is the large intestine
or large bowel. The rectum is the
passageway that connects the colon
to the anus.
Colorectal cancer
affects both men and women of all racial
and ethnic groups, and is most often
found in people aged 50 years or older.
For men, colorectal cancer is the third
most common cancer after prostate and
lung cancers. For women, colorectal
cancer is the third most common cancer
after breast and lung cancers.
Colorectal cancer
is the second leading cancer killer
in the United States, but it doesn't
have to be. If everybody aged 50 or
older had regular screening tests,
as many as 60% of deaths from colorectal
cancer could be prevented.
Colorectal cancer
screening saves lives. Screening can
find precancerous polyps-abnormal growths
in the colon or rectum-so that they
can be removed before turning into
cancer. Screening also helps find colorectal
cancer at an early stage, when treatment
often leads to a cure.
If you are aged
50 or older, or think you may be at
higher than average risk for colorectal
cancer, speak with your doctor about
getting screened.
Acknowledgment:
This text is adapted from the CDC website.
RESOURCES
MedlinePlus
- Colorectal Cancer Link
MedlinePlus will direct you to information to help answer health questions. MedlinePlus
brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.
MedlinePlus also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical
encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news. Please make
sure you check the MedlinePlus online for Colorectal Cancer with an extensive,
constantly updated resource list. Please
click here
More details about
colorectal cancer, including medically
graphic images, can be found at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Please
click here
The National
Cancer Institute (NCI)
has
up-to-date information for patients
and practitioners about colorectal
cancer. To go to NCI main web page please
click here
The American
Cancer Society (ACS)
is
has extensive information for all
aspects of colon cancer. To get to
the ACS colorectal cancer information
pages please
click here
Learn more about
some of the materials available on-line
(more detailed information can be found
using the links on top of this page):
This
section has pdf (Adobe Acrobat format)
files of useful resources created by
various agencies that can be downloaded
directly from the pacificcancer.org
website. The organization, year of
publication and size of the pdf file
are listed.
“The
basic facts about screening for colorectal
cancer”
To download CDC's (for
patients) 2 pages, 2006 (pdf 1.1MB) please
click here
“What
You Need To Know About™ Cancer of the
Colon and Rectum”
NCI’s booklet helps
you to learn about colon and rectal
cancer symptoms, diagnosis, treatment,
and questions to ask your health care
provider. NCI 2006, 51 pages (pdf 2MB).
To download the pdf file please
click here
ASCO Answers:
Colorectal Cancer ASCO Answers is
a series of fact sheets that provides an introduction
to a specific type of cancer. Each fact sheet is a
PDF that includes an overview of what the cancer is,
an illustration of where the cancer starts, how it
is treated, terms to know, and questions to ask the
doctor.
American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2008. 2 pages (pdf 320K). To download
the pdf please
click here.
Quality
Assurance & Improvement
The Pacific
Island Health Officers Association (PIHOA)
is dedicated to the health and well-being
of the Pacific Island populations.
The links and documents
on their website have been selected
from a very large body of available
materials about quality assurance (QA)
and accreditation in health care, with
the intention of including those that
are especially useful for PIHOA members
and their associates who are interested
in building QA systems which fit with
their local needs. The materials have
been grouped into several sections. To
get to the PIHOA quality assurance
site please
click here
On-line tools
Siteman
Cancer Center:Colorectal
Cancer Risk Questionnaire
Colon cancer is
one of the most common types of cancer
in the US. It’s also one of the most
preventable. In fact, up to 70 percent
of all cases could be prevented with
healthy behaviors and regular screening
tests.
To estimate your
risk of colon cancer and learn about
ways to lower that risk, take a few
minutes to answer some questions about
your health, background, and lifestyle.
To take the questionnaire online please
click here
Visuals Online
from the National Cancer Institute
NCI Visuals Online contains images
from the collections of the Office
of Communications and Education and
Office of Media Relations, National
Cancer Institute. Contents include
general biomedical and science-related
images, cancer-specific scientific
and patient care-related images, and
portraits of directors and staff of
the National Cancer Institute.
Use of Images
Except where noted
on the image details page, Visuals
Online images are in the public domain
and may be used, linked, or reproduced
without permission. If you use an image,
you should credit the listed source
and/or author. Please click here
