Colorectal Cancer in Children Health Video

Video Transcript

CLIFFORD SEWELL, MD: Hello. I'm Dr. Clifford Sewell. I'm here to tell you briefly about colorectal cancer in children. Colon cancer is generally thought was an illness in adults; however, there is a genetic predisposition in children for colon cancer. The condition is associated with familial polyposis or Gardner's disease. It this condition, the colon in children is littered with polyps. These polyps are slow growing; however, eventually, it can turn into cancer. A good reason to have your child screened for colon cancer is if you have a family history of familial polyposis or Gardner's disease in your family or strong family history of colon cancer. The symptoms of colon cancer in a child would be quite nondescript. There might be fatigue or weight loss in your child. Oftentimes, there is no symptom at all and the child must have screening in order to detect it. The prevention for colon cancer in children is quite simple. It's a screening test involving looking up into the colon and removing the polyps that may eventually turn into cancer.