Hereditary Colorectal Cancer
Hereditary Colorectal Cancer
Hereditary colorectal cancer is a condition in which genetics can increase a patient’s risk of a colon cancer diagnosis.
Genetics and Cancer
It’s been shown for some time that genes play a role in your risk of developing cancer. While having a history of cancer does not guarantee you will have cancer as well, the genetic background does increase the odds. Since genes replicate within the body over time, if you have mutated genes from a parent, you might be at risk of having those genes replicate and then turn into tumors and other cancer cells.
There are two main conditions associated with hereditary colon cancer:
Patients should keep in mind, however, that these conditions are still rare and they are not necessarily the case in all families with a history of colon cancer.
If you begin to see symptoms of colon cancer, you should seek medical advice. For those who want to be certain they don’t need colon cancer treatment, but they have a history of this cancer, it might be wise to begin screening for the cancer ahead of the recommended age of 50.
The sooner you can catch colon cancer, the more likely that treatment will be effective and complete.