The National Cancer Institute estimates that every year in the United States 21,000 people are diagnosed with stomach cancer and more than 100,000 people are diagnosed with colon cancer. Signs and symptoms of colon and stomach cancer are similar in that diseases other than cancer may be the cause, which makes accurate and timely diagnosis important, so that treatment can be as effective as possible.
Colon Cancer
According to the American Cancer Society, symptoms of colon cancer can include dark stools, a change in bowel habits, rectal bleeding, abdominal cramping or pain, and weakness or fatigue that does not lessen. Other symptoms can be blood in the stool, narrow stools, feeling like your bowel does not empty completely and frequent gas pains.
Stomach Cancer
Although early-stage stomach cancer (also called gastric cancer) does not typically produce symptoms, as the disease progresses, symptoms do arise. Symptoms of stomach cancer include unintentional weight loss, abdominal pain or discomfort, feeling fullness in the abdomen, heartburn or ulcer-like symptoms, nausea or vomiting, and abdominal swelling. These symptoms are often caused by things other than cancer, which makes getting an accurate diagnosis important if you are experiencing symptoms.
Clinical Signs of Colon and Stomach Cancer
To get a clinical diagnosis of colon cancer, along with a physical exam, a fecal occult blood test will be done, which will check stool for blood that can only be seen microscopically. A digital rectal exam may reveal abnormal lumps or unusual symptoms, and a sigmoidoscopy can discover polyps in the colon that may be cancerous. Clinical signs of stomach cancer may be seen with blood chemistry studies, because abnormal amounts of some substances may signal disease; endoscopy may show abnormal or cancerous tissue in the stomach, and if a barium swallow is performed, abnormal areas can show up on X-ray, signaling stomach cancer.
