Colorectal cancer will take nearly 50,000 lives the year, and is our country’s second largest killer. Screening is available, though there is a significant effort required in terms of preparation and the time needed to perform the test. For most people, the recommendation for your first colonoscopy is at age 50, though it may be sooner if you have risk factors for colon cancer or have noted any potential colon cancer symptoms.

If you’ve heard horror stories about colonoscopy, the test used today to screen for colon cancers, new technology may just save you from being someone who can tell them. There’s a new x-ray alternative that’s currently being studied by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) National CT Colonography Trial and is showing itself to be effective at spotting most cancers.

The long anticipated study involved 15 medical centers across the U.S. and compared the accuracy of CT colonography to colonoscopy, the current gold standard of colon cancer diagnosis. The results of this study were published in the Sept. 18, 2008, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Many of these cases include those who have been diagnosed with cancer that has metastasized (metastatic colon cancer).  Colon Cancer Symptoms And Signs Women Most of us already know that at this stage, treatment may become more complicated and difficult. Some cases though still have some hope for a few years’ survival.

Once colon or colorectal cancer has metastasized, it is no longer restricted to the tissues of the colon. It has already moved beyond to other organs of the body. The lymphatic system may be affected first. The cancer cells can then be transported through this same system to other organ cells in the lungs and liver. Other organs may ultimately be affected too.

Those who have been diagnosed metastasized cancer should still consider undergoing treatment. Proper treatment can improve one’s chances of extended survival compared to those who do not undergo treatment. Most patients treated for metastatic colon cancer have a 20% to 30% chance of surviving for five more years after diagnosis. Those who do not have cancer cells that have spread to the lungs or liver, have an even higher rate of survival.

New research may link one of the species of bacteria that live in our digestive system to the development of colon cancer symptoms. Home to many species, some “good” and others “bad”, our digestive system provides these microbes a place to live, and in return they help with digestion and training the body’s immune system. In susceptible people, this otherwise harmless organism causes DNA changes that can be a precursor to cancer.

The organism, known to scientists as enterococcus faecalis, (or E. faecalis for short) lives quietly in the digestive system of most of us, and it’s true that not everyone develops colon cancer. For reasons scientists have yet to understand, in some people the organism produces an oxygen molecule known as superoxide that cause changes in DNA and prompt some of the gene action tied to cancer.

The research, conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oklahoma City, looked at how colon cells reacted in the lab to the bacteria in the “fermentation” state. All in all, 42 genes linked to key processes in body cells were altered by the presence of E. faecalis.