Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal Cancer Information for:

(Click on any link above to view the selected section)

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.

Visit MedlinePlus.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

More details about colorectal cancer, including medically graphic images, can be found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

To view Basic Information About Colorectal Cancer from CDC, please click here.
To view Screening Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer from CDC, please click here.
To view CDC's Colorectal Cancer "Fast Facts", please click here.

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

The National Cancer Institute has up-to-date information for patients and practitioners about colorectal cancer.

To visit the NCI main page, please click here.

American Cancer Society (ACS)

The American Cancer Society has extensive information for all aspects of colon cancer.

To visit the ACS Colorectal Cancer webpage, please click here.

Printed Materials to Download

“The Basic Facts About Screening for Colorectal Cancer”

CDC 2006, 2 pages (for patients).

Download the PDF file: (pdf 260 KB).

“What You Need To Know About™ Cancer of the Colon and Rectum”

NCI 2006, 51 pages.

NCI’s booklet helps you to learn about colon and rectal cancer symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and questions to ask your health care provider.

Download the PDF file: (pdf 2 MB).

ASCO Answers: Colorectal Cancer

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2008, 2 pages.

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.

Download the PDF file: (pdf 300 KB).

Quality Assurance and Improvement

The Pacific Island Health Officers Association (PIHOA)

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 visit the PIHOA Quality Assurance website, please click here.

Online 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 online questionnaire, 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.

To visit NCI Visuals Online, please click here.

Traditional Medicine

In many cultures traditional medicine plays an important role in treating the sick or addressing disease. Traditional medicine, and its practice and philosophical and cultural manifestations differ greatly from culture to culture. There is not one size fits all explanation for traditional medicine. In many Pacific cultures traditional medicine play a vital role in a communities health care, but it is ultimately up to the individual to seek help from traditional healers or not.

In the past decade the term ‘integrative medicine’ has become more common, where both Traditional and Western medical concepts can work hand in hand, focusing on what is best for the patient. Many people may seek the advise from the traditional healers in their culture, but my be reluctant to disclose this to their Western doctor. Traditional medicine can be very beneficial for many ailments, although cancer is such a complex disease that using traditional medicine alone might not be the best available treatment option. Traditional medicine has been very successful in treating e.g. nausea or rashes that often go along with many cancer treatments and western medicine might provide little relieve.

If you chose to consult a traditional healer please try to discuss this with your doctor or contact your cancer coordinator to find out what treatment options are available on your island.

Find out more about CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

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