FEBRUARY 25 — Abdominal cancer is known as the rare, slow-growing cancer and many are still oblivious about the seriousness as well as the common symptoms that tend to be taken for granted for most patients.
The abdominal conditions include other organs namely the colon, liver, pancreas, kidney and stomach. In many cases, the abdominal cancer is often difficult to recognise and sometimes misdiagnosed.
Cancer, by simple explanation means, an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. Abdomen is a big area, between the lower chest and the groin, and it consists of many organs, including the stomach, small and large intestines, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, oesophagus, kidneys, urinary bladder and numerous blood vessels.
Abdominal cancer is a general term for a variety of cancers. In fact, I won’t agree to say that abdominal cancers are rare, in fact there are very common!
Cancer occurs when the growth of abnormal cells in the body is uncontrolled. It develops when the body's normal control mechanism stops working. Old or damaged cells do not die and instead grow out of control, forming new, abnormal cells.
These extra cells may form a mass of tissue, called a tumour. This tumour, what we call malignant tumour, will then cause local problems such as erosion, bleeding, compression, perforation or obstruction. It will also spread to other organs later, such as lung, liver, brain and bones.
There are quite a number of abdominal cancers known to be hereditary. The two most common inherited colorectal cancer syndromes are hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).
They can affect men and women, and the children of people who carry these genes have a 50 per cent chance of inheriting the disease-causing gene. Another example is Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer (HDGC).
It is an inherited cancer syndrome that leads to an increased risk for both diffuse gastric cancer and lobular breast cancer. Patients who inherit the genetic mutation for HDGC are at high risk of developing stomach cancer at a young age.
Generally, what we understand is anyone with strong family history of cancer, will certainly have higher risk of getting one.
In early stage of any abdominal cancers, most patient have no symptoms at all. However, symptoms of those cancers very much depend on what type of cancer it is. Pain or vague abdominal discomfort, even a very mild one, can be a very common symptom, and yet very commonly ignored.
For any gastrointestinal cancer (i.e stomach and colon cancer), patient might just present as anaemia (low haemoglobin level). It is due to the slow bleeding of the tumour. In a more severe case, tumour can also bleed torrentially, causing patient to pass out blood during bowel opening or vomiting out blood. Big tumour can cause obstruction and further abdominal distension.
Pancreatic or liver cancer can cause vague abdominal pain and jaundice. Sometimes, patient just present with unexplained weight loss, and further thorough check up finds such disease.
There are many risk factors for all these cancers. Generally, smoking and alcohol are the two most common culprits for many types of cancers in the body. Recent studies also showed that obesity and overweight are becoming one of the most important risk factors in many types of cancer, namely stomach, oesophagus and colorectal cancer.
Cancer can be fatal, especially if the patient is presented late to the hospital. Patient might have severe complications, such as massive bleeding, perforated tumour or even widespread disease. In this situation, normally the outcome of the treatment is quite poor.
However, if patient has an early disease, it can be well-controlled, and most of the times the disease can be cured.
The treatment of the cancers very much depends on the type of cancer and the presentation of the disease. Surgery is the mainstay of the treatment, and it will then be compliment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, depending on the type and the stage of the cancer.
Most of the surgery for abdominal cancers can be performed laparoscopically (keyhole surgery) which has its own advantages. They include smaller surgical scar, less pain, faster recovery and earlier discharge from hospital as well as less lung and wound complications.
Certain abdominal cancers are more common in men, and some in women. For example, stomach cancer is more common in men, while ovarian cancer obviously happens only to women. Colorectal cancer is more common among men. Men and women are equally at risk for colon cancer, but men are more likely to develop rectal cancer.
Noting that early detection of abdominal cancer is very important to ensure good treatment outcome, patients are strongly recommended to seek medical attention whether there are any alarming symptoms. Patients should not take lightly any slightest symptom that might suggest cancers. Early diagnosis will carry higher chances of cure.
Patients with strong family history are recommended to perform regular check-up and screening procedure.
* Dr Yeap Chee Loong is a general and bariatric surgeon at the Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur (GKL).
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
