LEWISTON – High cure rates for colorectal cancer are increasingly common with early detection and treatment, according to a local gastroenterologist.
“Our job is to pick it up earlier,” said Dr. Philip J. O’Connor, who was the featured speaker Tuesday at a Central Maine Healthcare Community Breakfast Forum.
“We’re playing a time game here,” O’Connor said. “The earlier you get into the game and catch the polyp or early cancer, the greater the survival.”
He explained that colorectal cancer first appears as a benign growth in the intestine. It takes about three to five years for this growth, called a polyp, to develop into a cancer. It then takes another five years for the cancer to spread to a point where effective treatment isn’t possible.
“Get screening,” he told the audience over and over, emphasizing that survival is directly related to the stage of the cancer at the time it’s discovered.
“We’re seeing dramatic increases in screening. We have quite a waiting list, which we’re working on, but the message is getting through,” O’Connor said.
“It is an extraordinarily preventable disease under most circumstances,” he added.
However, no one should expect a good outcome if they wait for symptoms to appear.
“Half of those who are diagnosed after symptoms develop will die from cancer,” he said.
O’Connor said colonoscopy is “the gold standard” for early detection. The examination is done by gastroenterologists using a specially designed apparatus that allows the physician to view the inner wall of the large intestine and remove any polyps.
Sigmoidoscopy, a less complete examination, is falling out of favor, O’Connor noted.
O’Connor talked about some new screening techniques such as CT colonography and a fecal DNA test, in addition to a basic non-invasive test for fecal blood that’s done at home with material in a small envelope. That screening, at least, should be done by everyone.
O’Connor said those whose immediate family members – sibling or parent – have a history of colon cancer definitely need to be screened, as well as men and women over 50.
In Central Maine Medical Center’s regional referral area where some 400,000 live, O’Connor said, statistics show about 450 people will develop colorectal cancer in the next year.
Some 80 percent of them can be effectively helped if the disease is detected early.
One woman asked about the effectiveness of diet and lifestyle changes.
“The population is aging and the American diet is terrible,” O’Connor said. “We eat too much fat and too little fiber.
“I also tell patients to forget about the stuff about seeds and nuts. That’s an old wives tale,” he said.
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