What Young Patients Should Know About Colon Cancer
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There are good reasons why the United States Preventive Services Task Force has recommended lowering the screening age for colon cancer from 50 to 45. According to the American Cancer Society, those under 50 now account for 12% of all colon cancer cases, a big (and concerning) jump in recent years. Here is what cancer experts and a patient who’s been through treatment herself think you should know.
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Colon Cancer Doesn’t Have to Run in Your Family
Most younger people who get colon cancer do not have a hereditary predisposition, says Hao Xie, M.D., an oncologist in the department of gastrointestinal oncology at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. “Actually most of the [younger] patients we see in our clinic don t really have a family history. And they don t really have a specific risk factor,” he says, like smoking or even obesity.