Colorectal Cancer Month March

What is colorectal cancer?

Cancer is a disease that occurs when changes in a group of normal cells in the body lead to uncontrolled, abnormal growth that results in a growth called a tumor. The most common type of cancer in the bowel is colorectal cancer. It develops in the large intestine (colon) or rectum. These two sections of the intestine form the last part of the digestive system. Colon and rectal tumors belong to the so-called solid tumors: These types of cancer originate from cells of a single organ and often grow in one place at first. As the disease progresses, however, they can spread throughout the body and form metastases. More rarely, cancer develops in the small intestine or at the anus. There are also tumors that grow in the intestine but are not intestinal cancer in the true sense of the word. They do not originate from the intestinal mucosa, but from other tissues in the intestine.

In Germany, around 24,000 women and 30,000 men are diagnosed with bowel cancer for the first time every year. This makes bowel cancer the second most common tumor disease in women and the third most common in men, with more than 20,000 people dying from the consequences of this disease every year.

What screening options are there?

If bowel cancer is detected at an early stage, the chances of recovery are good. From the age of 50, men and women can have their stool examined annually using immunological stool tests (iFOBT), and every two years from the age of 55. Colonoscopy is a regular option for men aged 50 and over and for women aged 55 and over. During a colonoscopy, the bowel is viewed from the inside. The endoscope is inserted into the large intestine via the anus. The endoscope contains a light source and a camera that transmits an image to the examiner's monitor. Instruments can be inserted via a separate working channel, which are then used to remove any polyps that may be present. In this way, precancerous lesions are removed immediately during the examination. If the result is inconspicuous, it is sufficient to repeat the examination after 10 years at the earliest. The examination itself is not painful, but the preparation is often perceived as somewhat unpleasant, as the bowel has to be cleansed using a laxative. The regulations on early cancer detection apply to healthy people. If you have a family history of cancer or symptoms, you should consult a specialist.

We recommend the following videos for further information:

Colorectal cancer screening at Hannover Medical School

Screening and bowel cancer - how do they go together (A lecture at the Patientenuni)

How do we treat bowel cancer at the Clinical Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology?

Various therapies are available for the treatment of bowel cancer. These include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and treatment with targeted drugs.

Which therapy is suitable depends on various factors, such as the stage of the disease and the general condition of the patient, but also on personal wishes and expectations.

At the heart of modern oncological therapy development is the interdisciplinary exchange at tumor conferences - together with representatives of visceral surgery, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, (interventional) radiology as well as pathology and human genetics, we consistently discuss every patient with gastrointestinal tumor disease when diagnostic or therapeutic decisions need to be made in order to review therapy results or if a change of therapy modality is being considered. These twice-weekly conferences are supplemented by the bi-weekly molecular tumour board, in which the results of complex genetic diagnostics are discussed separately and possible therapeutic consequences in terms of personalized oncology are determined.

Treatment recommendations are made on the basis of the tumor conferences and, if necessary, inpatient admission is planned or contact is made with another specialist department.

The German Cancer Society and the Cancer Information Service of the German Cancer Research Center provide comprehensive information about bowel cancer.

Free information material is also available from German Cancer Aid.