Colon cancer: If you see four warning signs, you should see a doctor

The death of singer Tina Turner has caused shock around the world. She died on Wednesday after a long illness at her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, as a spokesman said in the evening. In addition to kidney failure, she also battled colon cancer.

More than 60,000 new cases of colon cancer in Germany every year

Colorectal cancer is the second most common type of cancer in Germany – this type of tumor in particular can be detected and treated early.

• Around 61,000 people are diagnosed with colon cancer each year, a good third of which affect the rectum.
• Around 24,600 people die from this cancer every year.

This is shown by the numbers in Germany from the Felix Burda Foundation.

If you have four signs, you should see a doctor

“One of the most telling symptoms to always be aware of and to be cleared up by a diagnostic colonoscopy is the visible blood in the stool“, explains Berndt Birkner. The internist with a focus on gastroenterology is a member of national and international gastroenterological societies, works voluntarily for the Felix Burda Foundation, among others, and received the Federal Cross of Merit in recognition of his services to quality management in medical care and early detection of colon cancer.

If blood is visible in or on the stool when going to the toilet, this is an important warning sign that you should have examined, the doctor describes in an interview with FOCUS online.

Three other symptoms that are warning signs and make a colonoscopy urgently necessary because they can not only be associated with cancer but also with an intestinal obstruction are:

• stool retention
• unexplained vomiting
• or severe abdominal pain.

Familial risk of colorectal cancer

One in four cases of colorectal cancer is familial. So the risk was inherited. In the Turner case, it wasn’t just the singer herself who was affected. Her son Ronnie died a few years ago as a result of colon cancer at the age of 62.

Older people in particular get colon cancer. It is less well known that younger adults can also become ill. More and more people under the age of 50 are getting colon cancer. Since 2002, there have been eleven percent more people between the ages of 25 and 49. Many of them get sick so early because someone in the family has had colon cancer.

But most people don’t even know that colon cancer ran in the family. Only one thing helps: ask!

“Talking about it is so important because if there is a family burden, your own risk of colon cancer is about twice as high,” explains Korbinian Weigl. He works at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg.

Family history means that a relative had or has colorectal cancer or a precursor to it. The risk is great if first-degree relatives are affected – for example the father. But second-degree relatives are also important, such as grandparents. If one of them had colon cancer, the risk also increases, but not as much.

The only way to find out about your own family risk is to talk to your relatives. So with father, mother, siblings, grandparents. Even if many do not like to talk about the intestine and intestinal diseases. Two simple questions will suffice:

1. have you ever had colon cancer
2. And if you’ve never had colon cancer, have you ever had colon polyps removed (especially adenomas)?

Note: Like the Felix Burda Foundation, FOCUS Online belongs to Hubert Burda Media.