Breakthroughs in medicine: colon cancer awareness

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A surgeon at The Christ Hospital is speaking up about colon cancer awareness, but also what she hopes all of us know even if this cancer is discovered and treated.

"Get the colonoscopy. Get it over with. More likely than not, nothing's going to be found. But if something is found, you just need to hop on it and get it taken care of,” said Dr. Janice Rafferty, chief of colorectal surgery for The Christ Hospital Health Network.

She said early detection is key.

Colon cancer has a stigma that can keep people from getting a colonoscopy.

Dr. Rafferty recently appeared on “What’s Happening in Health” (now 5:30-7 a.m. on Local 12) to explain one reason why:

"I think a lot of the stigma comes from urban legend about the terrible outcomes, the fact that we had really nothing great to treat cancer before colorectal cancer when it was diagnosed. And the urban legend of you let the air in, the cancer goes wild. None of this is true,” Dr. Rafferty said.

She said as a surgeon who does a lot of education, she often gets asked about what people should know about colon cancer, especially if treatment or surgery is needed.

"We have so many better ways to treat colorectal cancer than we did 30 years ago when I started in practice. It's the progress has really been remarkable, not only from better chemotherapy agents to prolonged life, prolonged disease-free survival, but better ways of doing the surgery that cause less pain, less nausea, shorter hospital stay, earlier return to normal activities. I mean there have been so many advances that if you think about it, a prep for colonoscopy is so much easier than what you have to go through once a cancer is diagnosed,” Dr. Rafferty said.

Here are some early warning signs of colon cancer:

• A change in bowel habits
• Blood in or on the stool
• Diarrhea, constipation or feeling that the bowel does not empty all the way
• Abdominal pain, aches or cramps that don’t go away
• Unexplained weight loss

If a person notices any of these, he or she should tell a doctor.