5 Things We Should All Know About Colorectal Cancer

John Peter Bain, more popularly known as the YouTube celebrity TotalBiscuit, died on 24 May 2018.

- Lim Teck Choon

He was only 33. He left us just four years after he was diagnosed with a cancerous mass in his colon, In light of his sad passing, let's take a look once more at colorectal cancer, and how it affects all of us, regardless of race, sex and age.

#1 IT IS A BAD KIND OF NUMBER TWO

 Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most common cancer affecting both men and women in Malaysia. The World Health Organization’s GLOBOCAN project estimated in 2012 that 18 out of 100,000 Malaysians are affected every year, while a study in 2016 estimated that it could be as high as 21 in every 100,000 Malaysians. The Chinese record the highest incidence as well as the highest number of deaths from CRC, followed by the Malays and Indians.

#2 CRC PATIENTS HAVE A RELATIVE SURVIVAL AVERAGE OF FIVE YEARS, BUT MALAYSIANS MAY HAVE EVEN LESS THAN THAT

The relative survival rate is five years for CRC patients all over the world, although the number of years available to patients decrease when the cancer is detected at more advanced stages.

In Malaysia, the relative survival rate is said to be lower because of the corresponding lower number of CRC screenings performed. As a result, most CRC patients are diagnosed when the cancer is at its advanced stage and there is not much the healthcare team can do to improve treatment outcome.

SYMPTOMS OF CRC