For additional Healthcare News visit our Breaking News Archive. The colon and the rectum are part of the large intestine, which is part of the digestive system. Because colon cancer and rectal cancers have many features in common, they are sometimes referred to together as colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.
The symptoms of colorectal cancer may resemble other conditions, such as infections, hemorrhoids, and inflammatory bowel disease. It is important to talk to the physician since finding colorectal cancer early makes treatment more likely. It is also possible to have colon cancer and not have any symptoms, which is why regular physical examinations and screening for early detection are important. Hope is on the horizon for colon cancer patients as a vaccine tested in the first randomized multi-center immunotherapy trial has shown promising results, according to a newly published study. Patients received two injections of the vaccine and a final dose of irradiated tumor cells alone at set intervals beginning three or four weeks after surgery, and then were followed for more than seven years.