Gastrointestinal Cancer

Colon and Rectal Cancer

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Diagnosis

To help find the cause of symptoms, your doctor will evaluate your medical history. Your doctor will perform a physical exam and may recommend one or more of the following diagnostic tests:

• Sigmoidoscopy to see inside the rectum and the lower colon and remove polyps or other abnormal tissue for examination under a microscope
• Colonoscopy to see inside the rectum and the entire colon and remove polyps or other abnormal tissue for examination under a microscope
• Polypectomy to remove a polyp during a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy
• Biopsy to remove tissue sample for examination by a pathologist to make a diagnosis

For more information about diagnostic tests, see Colon Cancer — Prevention and Screening.

If the diagnosis is cancer, your doctor will determine the stage or extent of disease. Staging is a careful attempt to find out whether the cancer has spread and if so, to what parts of the body. More tests may be performed to help determine the stage. Knowing the stage of the disease helps your doctor plan treatment. Listed below are descriptions of the various stages of colon cancer:

• Stage 0: The cancer is very early. It is found only in the innermost lining of the rectum.
• Stage I: The cancer involves more of the inner wall of the rectum.
• Stage II: The cancer has spread outside the colon to nearby tissue, but not to the lymph nodes. (Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped structures that are part of the body's immune system.)
• Stage III: The cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes, but not to other parts of the body.
• Stage IV: The cancer has spread to other parts of the body. If it spreads, colorectal cancer tends to spread to the liver and lungs.
• Recurrent: Recurrent cancer means the cancer has come back after treatment. The disease may recur in the colon or in another part of the body.

Last reviewed in April 2002 by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.