Few diseases cause so much fearpopulation like cancer. And it is not surprising, because this disease is fatal, and treatment is very expensive. In recent years, science and medicine have made great strides in development, inventing new drugs and methods to fight cancer, but the oncological diagnosis still sounds like a sentence. The worst thing is that no one is immune from this disease.
A special place among cancer in women occupy a tumorin the digestive tract. Including intestinal cancer, the first symptoms of which practically do not manifest themselves. How does this disease begin, and what precedes the appearance of a tumor? What do doctors say and how dangerous is it? Let's see.
Nature of cancer
Our body consists of innumerablemicroscopic cells that perform certain functions. Normally, cells divide, live and die, and new ones develop instead. For example, the stomach lining is renewed every 4 days, which is a completely normal process.
Sometimes it happens that under the influence ofof certain factors, some cells begin to divide at an extraordinary rate, as a result of which the body loses control over them and ceases to recognize them. Fighting them as such does not occur.
But the worst thing is that these newly formed cells do not die, as it should be, but continue to live and multiply further. This is the nature of the occurrence of tumors that studies oncology.
Cancer of the small intestine
When cancer of the small intestine affects the glandularintestinal tissue, its mucous membrane. So there is a tumor, which eventually grows and penetrates into neighboring organs. Alas, but intestinal cancer, the symptoms and manifestation of which are visible only at stages 3-4, is very dangerous for the body, and it is not easy to notice it at the beginning of the disease.
According to statistics, cancer of the small intestine occurs extremelyseldom. Against the background of other cancers, this disease affects no more than 2% of cancer patients. 80% of cancer of the small intestine falls on the elderly, however, and the remaining 20% for young people is too much.
In women, a type of this cancer is found.rarely. The most common disease in older men, whose age has already passed the 60-year milestone. The reasons for this phenomenon remain unclear, perhaps the point here lies in the peculiarities of the structure of the female body.
Types of tumors in the small intestine
Cancer of the small intestine can occur as:
● adenocarcinomas;
● sarcomas;
● carcinoid;
● lymphomas.
Most often cancer of the small intestine, symptomswhich occur only after a certain time, can occur in the form of adenocarcinoma, which is a lesion of glandular tissue of the intestine. A carcenoid is very rare; it accounts for about 3% of cancers.
Most often this disease affects people indeveloping asian countries. In highly developed countries, female intestinal cancer is much less common in women - statistics asserts that such cases are observed only among the elderly.
Symptoms of bowel cancer
Cancer is a rather insidious disease, thereforeAt the initial stages, it practically does not manifest itself. Up to a year, the patient may not feel any changes in the body at all. Signs begin to appear when the tumor has spread to neighboring organs. The symptoms of intestinal cancer in women are:
• Intestinal problems, manifested by abdominal distention, obstruction, abdominal pain and upset stool.
• Unreasonable weight loss. If you have bowel cancer - the first symptoms may appear in a strange weight loss.
• Yellowing of proteins and skin.
• Decreased appetite.
• Bleeding in the intestines, which is quite rare with sarcoma.
These symptoms suggest thatimmediately visit the doctor and pass all necessary tests. Symptoms of intestinal cancer in women in the early stages manifest low levels of hemoglobin in the blood and abnormal liver function. However, such signs are found only as a result of analyzes.
Stages of small bowel cancer
Cancer is, in principle, a long and complex process that goes through several stages of development. Each stage has its own characteristic differences. There are 4 in total.
Stage 1 This is the initial stage of the disease, which lasts a long time. Over a period of about 5 years, the tumor grows up to 2 cm in diameter and is not yet spread to the lymph nodes and nearby organs.
Stage 2 The tumor exceeds in size 2 cm and spread to one lymph node. At this stage, cancer of the small intestine is only born, its symptoms are not yet fully manifested.
Stage 3 It is characterized by a large formation in the intestines and metastases in the lymph nodes. At this stage, the cancer becomes very dangerous, and it becomes difficult to cure the patient.
Stage 4. The tumor has moved to neighboring organs and has a large number of metastases. Malignant cells divide at a furious pace, the disease itself progresses.
The danger is that the first twostages man in no way feels a change in their health. Cancer in such cases can be diagnosed only during surgery or by x-ray.
Causes of small bowel cancer
The causes of the disease include:
• alcohol abuse and smoking;
• frequent consumption of carcinogenic food;
• chronic inflammatory processes in the intestine;
• ulcerative colitis;
• Crohn's disease;
• celiac disease;
• radiation;
• Peitz-Jagers syndrome;
• pathological processes associated with the production of enzymes of the gastrointestinal tract;
• genetic disorders;
• metastases to the small intestine.
At risk are people who have previously suffered from cancer, people who are genetically susceptible to cancer, and also, as already noted, the elderly.
Cancer diagnosis
Diagnostics is carried out using variousmethods using special equipment. Symptoms of intestinal cancer in women in the initial stages can manifest as pallor of the skin caused by low hemoglobin. The tumor itself can be detected only by ultrasound. Analyzes may show a slight deviation from the normal content of leukocytes in the blood.
In the later stages, the cancer candetect palpation. It is characterized by a bumpy form, and can take the form of a flat ulcer or a cup-shaped form. As a rule, the method of palpation reveals cancer that is in the 3rd stage. At the 4th stage, one can see intestinal cancer with the naked eye, the symptoms and manifestation of which the experienced doctor literally catches the eye.
For the diagnosis of cancer of the small intestine is used:
• computed tomography;
• magnetic resonance;
• fibrogastroscopy;
• angiography of vessels;
• laparoscopy;
• radiology;
• biopsy;
• colonoscopy.
All of these methods are used to diagnose cancer in the small intestine. However, it is sometimes enough for doctors to apply only some of them in order to fully see and evaluate the tumor in the abdominal cavity.
Treatment of cancer of the small intestine
Surgical intervention is still considered the most popular and effective method of fighting cancer. In the early stages, surgery successfully fights the disease, and the survival rate is very high.
At later stages besides surgerychemotherapy is also needed, which consists in administering various drugs to the patient through injections or droppers. Chemotherapy inhibits the growth of cells and fights their reproduction.
Иногда применяют и лучевую терапию, которая able to act directly on the site of the cancer. The peculiarity of the method is that the radioactive radiation, if it does not kill the malignant cells, has the most negative impact on them.
These two methods have a lot of side effects that adversely affect patients. Nevertheless, they have the right to exist and are widely used in modern medicine.
Recently very widely advertisedfolk remedies to fight cancer. You should know that this is pure fraud and, taking some herbs, you only waste time. Cancer needs to be fought through official medicine. Only this way you will be sure of the correctness of the treatment.
К сожалению, симптомы рака кишечника у женщин rather unpredictable, however, as noted earlier, the most frequent and early symptom of the disease is pallor of the skin. Therefore, even with such a minor ailment, you should immediately go to the doctor. Remember that it is much easier to detect and cure cancer in its early stages than after the disease progressed to the point of no return.
