Ulcerative Colitis

A high fiber diet with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables is thought to be protective against the disease, as are supplements such as calcium and folic acid.Miletello and Holly Clegg are updating their cookbook, “Eating Well Through Cancer,” which is scheduled for release in September.Symptoms of colon cancer may include blood in the stool, abdominal pain, changing bowel habits and unexplained weight loss, he said, emphasizing again that there may be no symptoms early in the disease.

By the time symptoms arise, the patient may be in stage IV of the disease, which means it has spread to other organs and is less responsive to treatment.Polyps in the colon generally take 10 years to become malignant.

If they are detected and removed early during a colonoscopy, cancer can be prevented.Once detected, colon cancer is generally treated by surgery and chemotherapy, Miletello said.

Radiation is not used very often except for some cases of rectal cancer and other cases where the cancer has spread to the bone.There are six drugs commonly used to treat colon cancer today, where there was only one a decade ago.

Avastin, a biologic agent to target cancer cells specif...

Read more...