What is Colorectal Cancer?
Since colorectal cancer could happen in the colon or the rectum, it is also known as colon cancer or rectal cancer. To understand colorectal cancer better, let’s take a look at the anatomy of the large intestine. As a part of the digestive system, the large intestine is made up of the cecum, acceding & descending colon, transverse colon, sigmoid colon, and rectum. When a growth (polyp) appears on the inner lining of the colon or rectum, you have a chance of developing colon cancer. Depending on the types of polyp, hyperplastic polyps and inflammatory polyps are non-neoplastic. These polyps are common and typically not pre-cancerous. Adenomatous polyps and sessile serrated polyps are neoplastic, often containing cancerous cells. Starting from the mucosa, these polyps gradually grow into outside wall layers and spread cancerous cells to other parts of the body. [1]
