Saturday 11 / January / 2025
Muscat: Colon cancer is the most common cancer in the Sultanate and more than 70 percent of the cases are discovered late, according to a colorectal surgery consultant at the Royal Hospital.
Speaking exclusively to Times of Oman, Dr. Rashid Al Alawi, Colorectal surgery consultant at the Royal Hospital, said ”Colon cancer has become very worrying for us as it is the most common cancer in the Sultanate, and more than 70 percent of the cases are discovered late, at a rate of 5-8 new cases per week in the Royal Hospital, which is the main hospital for these cases.”
He explained: “Previously, breast cancer was ranked first in the Sultanate, but colon cancer overtook this kind of cancer. Colon cancer moved from the fifth to the fourth place and then to the second in 2018, and later became the most common.”
Silent internal disease
Dr. Al-Alawi said, “I wish we could detect it early, and if it was, we would have gained time, but colon cancer is a silent internal disease and it begins to grow in the colon like a polyp and then grows with the passage of time and shows symptoms such as bleeding from the anus, pain in the abdomen, flatulence and a change in the pattern of stool output.”
Dr. Rashid explained: “Often and the most common bleeding from the anus is due to benign causes due to haemorrhoids, anal fissures, but the question is how to distinguish between benign causes and colon cancer. At such a stage an endoscopy should be performed to find out the cause and identify the reasons.”
About detection of the cancer at an early stage, Dr. Rashid said, “It is very difficult due to the lack of an early examination programme in the Sultanate.”
Dr. Rashid stressed that the World Health Organisation, (WHO), recommends to all countries to provide an early screening programme for colon cancer, describing it as a basic need. “Early detection of breast cancer is easy as it is a tangible external organ that can be touched, examined and detected by hand or even the naked eye. The patient himself or one of her relatives can examine it or get it examined by a doctor, but the colon is an internal part that cannot be seen with the naked eye or touched to examine it early and can be detected only after examining the stool and then through the endoscope.”
Dr. Rashid stressed that medically advanced countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and some Asian countries, including Singapore, have an early examination programme for a certain age, as some of them adopt early examination at the age of 50 years and some reduce the examination years to 40 years.”
Dr. Rashid called upon every one especially those who are 40 years or older to get themselves examined if they feel any symptoms such as bloating and pain in the abdomen or bleeding. They should consult a doctor until they are assured of their health condition.
