Does colorectal cancer really run in families? Doctor: If you meet the three characteristics, you need to be vigilant
It is a huge disaster to have one person in a family with cancer, not to mention several people with cancer!
However, some cancers show family aggregation characteristics, and even offspring have the same cancer!
For example, colorectal cancer is such a familial cancer, which shows obvious familial aggregation characteristics in clinical practice!
This makes people wonder, is cancer really a disease that can be inherited?
First of all, everyone must understand what kind of disease cancer is. It is a genetic mutation of cells. After cells are affected by carcinogenic factors, DNA replication errors and gene mutations will cause these mutated cells to no longer obey the laws of metabolism. Take root and grow, evade the immune system, and gradually form cancerous tumors, which will cause cancer to break out!
So far, the clinical cause of cancer has not been completely clear, but a large number of experiments and studies have confirmed that the cause of cancer is related to chemical factors, physical factors, biological factors, and genetic factors.
Let's turn around and look at colorectal cancer. Clinically, there are two types of colorectal cancer, that is, cancer of the rectum and colon, of which the incidence of rectal cancer is relatively high. According to the clinical data, the incidence of rectal cancer is indeed related to genetic factors!
However, everyone needs to be clear that the inheritance of rectal cancer is not directly inherited from cancer cells to the next generation!
According to the content released by the National Cancer Institute of Japan, the human body itself contains genetic genes that inhibit cancer. There are two genes in each cell, one from the parents' genes.
Therefore, after birth, there are two legacy genes in the body. However, when there are mutated genes in the parents, when the next generation is born, a tumor suppressor gene in the cells of the body has been mutated, so it is more likely to develop cancer than others!
It should be noted that although the next generation receives the mutated gene, it may not necessarily be transformed into cancer, but there is a 50% chance that the mutated gene will be passed on to the next generation. Therefore, cancer inheritance is mainly related to genes, not cancer cells are directly passed on to the next generation!
In addition, rectal cancer has familial aggregation and genetic characteristics. In addition to being related to genes, it is also related to a family called familial intestinal adenomatous polyposis, which belongs to an autosomal dominant genetic disease.
Patients may have rectal polyps before the age of 20, and even hundreds of polyps. If they are not treated in time, the later cancer rate is close to 100%!
If you meet the following three characteristics, there may be hidden dangers of familial hereditary colorectal cancer, and you need to be vigilant:
More than three people in the family have rectal cancer, and two of them are of the same generation;
Two or more similar generations have a history of rectal cancer or adenomatous polyps developed into rectal cancer;
At least 1 person in the family was diagnosed with rectal cancer before the age of 50!
In general, if you have an immediate family member with rectal cancer or a family history of adenomatous polyps, you should have regular rectal cancer screenings regardless of whether you have symptoms or the presence of the disease.
At present, the commonly used clinical screening methods for rectal cancer mainly include digital rectal examination, routine stool examination, colonoscopy, etc.!
Once an adenomatous polyp is diagnosed, it should be removed as recommended by your doctor, regardless of the size of the polyp. However, excision does not mean once and for all, because polyps have a tendency to recur, so in the future, regular review is also required to understand the health of the intestinal tract.