The Health Screening You Must Have

With early diagnosis and treatment of colon cancer, thousands of lives could be saved

 

- Anita Bartholomew

TALL, LEAN STEFFI WESSA OF LANDAU, GERMANY, had never had a serious illness, so when in late 2013, after she turned 55, her physician suggested they add a routine colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy to her regular medical check-up, Steffi had no reason for concern.

Colorectal cancer (CRC), often called colon cancer, is a malignancy in the large intestine, that twisty tube through which waste products exit the anus. The last six or so inches of colon are called the rectum.

During the colonoscopy—examination of the entire colon with an endoscope—the doctor found two polyps, benign growths in the intestinal wall that have the potential to turn cancerous if left untreated. These the doctor removed during the procedure. But there was something more: a five centimeter growth in the rectal area. It appeared to be a carcinoma.

A biopsy confirmed the physician’s suspicions: Steffi had colorectal cancer. On hearing the news, Steffi was distraught. “My world collapsed. To me, cancer meant death.”

Steffi was just one of approximately 447,000 Europeans to be diagnosed with colon cancer that year, and the numbers are increasing annually. Globally, CRC is the third most common of all cancers, and in continental Europe it is the second most common malignancy, after breast cancer which has about 464,000 annual diagnoses. It’s also the second most deadly, killing about 215,000 Europeans every year.

But it needn’t be a killer. Colorectal cancer, when discovered in its early stages, is one of the most treatable cancers. And Steffi’s had been caught early, before it could spread.

WHAT PUTS US AT RISK of getting colon cancer in the first place? The risk increases with age—those older than 50 make up the vast majority of cases—but it can strike much younger people as well.