Colorectal cancer: features and investigation

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is very common, affecting>40,000 people a year in the UK. The pathogenesis is mostly sporadic, but hereditary genes and inflammatory bowel disease are well-known causative factors. The symptoms can be very variable, are based on the location of the lesion and tend to be more obscure if they are right sided. Symptoms also overlap with benign conditions so luminal imaging, mainly colonoscopy as the gold standard, is needed. Bowel cancer screening programmes are designed to detect the earlier stages of CRC.
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Colorectal cancer Source Type: research