What are the early symptoms and signs of colon cancer?
The complaints of patients with colon cancer vary with the location of the tumor. When the cancer is located in the right side of the colon where stool is still liquid, obstruction of the passage of stool with resultant constipation is seldom a complaint. However, these right side tumors often grow to a very large side and bleed into the intestine. As result of this blood loss, the patients may complain of bright red blood per rectum and/or dark stool. When the blood loss becomes significant, fatigue, chest pain, difficulty breathing and palpitations may become the dominant symptoms. Such patients on an examination will appear pale and are found to be anemic (low blood count) when blood tests are done. The stools may also test positive for blood, when tested with the fecal occult blood test kits. Tumors on the left side of the colon (i.e. descending and sigmoid colon) cause constipation. They are able to do this, because on this side of the colon the stool has become solid and with the
