| Colorectal cancer is the second leading
cause of cancer death so screening, from age 50,
is important. A team at Northwestern University now
reports on some factors that may be important in
colorectal cancer. They looked at the records of 161,172
patients with colorectal cancer. Those who were
current alcohol or tobacco users tended to develop
cancer an average of 7.8 years earlier than those who
had never smoked or consumed alcohol.
Those who had stopped drinking and had never smoked
developed cancer an average of 2.1 years earlier than
abstainers. The impact of smoking was especially large
for women - those who smoked but never drank developed
cancer 6.3 years earlier than abstainers, compared to
3.7 years earlier among men. In addition, those who
currently consumed alcohol and tobacco were more likely
to develop distal tumors - that is, those in the lower
left part of the colon. Men were generally more prone to
distal tumors than women. The researchers also think
that abstainers might be more prone to proximal tumors,
on the right side of the colon. All this has
implications for how screening is done, for colonoscopy
is better at detecting proximal tumors and flexible
sigmoidoscopy is more suited to distal tumors. |
