Hyderabad: Continental Hospitals study finds Indians are at high risk for developing colorectal cancer

It predominantly affects those individuals, aged 50 years and above but latest trends show it is affecting younger people

Hyderabad: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide, accounting for approximately 10 per cent of all cancer cases and is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide.

It predominantly affects those individuals, aged 50 years and above but latest trends show it is affecting younger people in the third and fourth decade of their lives.

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Continental Hospitals for the past three years, following recommended guidelines for CRC, have screened several thousand patients by colonoscopy procedure.

“Our study found pre-cancerous lesions (polyps) in 28.03 per cent of men and 21.15 per cent of women, corresponding to 25.27 per cent of all patients who underwent colonoscopy, developing colorectal cancer in their life time if these polyps weren’t detected and removed promptly,” the hospital said.

Because colorectal cancer has high risk of mortality, it is very important to follow preventive strategies by implementing screening colonoscopy as best practice in men and women aged 45 and 45 years, said Dr Guru N Reddy, primary author of the study and Founder and Chairman of Continental Hospitals, Gachibowli.

Doctors have performed screening colonoscopies in approximately 2,000 patients and patients were informed of guidelines and counselled of this preventive strategy, said Dr Reddy. Interestingly these educational efforts we have identified overall in 25 per cent of individuals, pre-cancerous lesions (polyps) that were removed.

“We also diagnosed incidentally 33 colon and rectal cancers in these patients who underwent screening colonoscopy,” he said.