Inherited Colon Rectal Cancer
Inherited Colon Rectal Cancer
Colon cancer is becoming increasingly common these days, with a majority of afflicted people being over 50 years of age. According to statistics there are chances of about 125000 new cases of colon cancer in the coming year.
The people who get afflicted with his disease do no have a common source of acquiring the disease, but about 10 percent of the victims have acquired the disease genetically.
Colon cancer is found to be caused by four different heredity conditions, they are, familiar adenomatous polypopsis, juvenile polypopsis, hereditary non-polypopsis and Peutz-jegher’s syndrome.
The main cause of colon cancer is the unrestricted growth of colon cells, a damage in the colon cell genes stimulates growth that later takes the form of a polyp.
This polyp becomes cancerous if it is not removed. Usually the development takes a long time and it takes even longer fore it to turn cancerous, this is the main reason why colon cancer is uncommon among people who are less than 50 years of age.
People who do acquire colon cancer at an early age mainly get it due to genetic transmission. It is generally difficult to diagnose. A person is likely to get colon cancer, if he has a strong history of colon cancer in his family.
For example, if a person has a cousin and an uncle who as colon cancer, then there is a fair chance that the person in question has colon cancer too.
The two most common inherited colon cancers are hereditary non-polypopsis colon cancer (HNPCC) and familial adenomatous polypopsis (FAP). In a recent discovery it has become possible to identify the genes that cause these conditions.
This medical break through is of great importance to people who have a strong history of colon cancer,.
These people can get a blood test done in the early age and if they are found to be diagnosed with the disease certain preventive treatment can be started.
HNPCC or the hereditary non-polypopsis colon cancer occurs when the body is not able to repair the colon cells. HNPCC is also known to cause other cancers such as cancer in the urinary system (kidney, bladder etc.), it can also cause cancer in the female reproductive system and the rest of the gastro intestinal tract.
FAP or the familial adenomatous polypopsis leads to the formation of thousands of polyps in the digestive tract.
A person who is afflicted with FAP starts to develop colon polyps at an early age, generally by the age of 40, which is around 10 years younger than the normal age at which people contract the disease.
There is not much known about juvenile polyposis. Although some form of juvenile polypopis are hereditary, but there is no commercial genetic test. The only test that is available is strictly used for research purposes.
Juvenile polyposis causes polyps in the small intestine and the colon. The treatment that is generally recommended in this case is surgery.