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Comments (55)
- helterskelter2I'm late to this thread, and I've mentioned this story here before several times (under other usernames I lost the password to), but it bears repeating:I had family who was experiencing symptoms of CRC in their late 30's or early 40's, which they reported to their PCP. PCP repeatedly denied them a referral to a specialist and insisted they were too young for CRC. This goes on for about a year. Finally, with worsening symptoms, my family member 'remembered' that their 'aunt' had passed of CRC when they were very young. This got them a referral to gastroenterologist, who got them a colonoscopy. (All this trouble, even though their symptoms were textbook and got so bad they couldn't make it ten steps to the bathroom).However! The colonoscopy came out clean, but my family member was still experiencing worsening symptoms. Finally the gastroenterologist schedules a CT or MRI, which spotted a huge tumor in their colon and they were diagnosed stage 4. The tumor was in their sigmoid (the right-angle turn your colon makes), and only the tip of the tumor was protruding from the colon wall itself, so when the doctor performed the colonoscopy and failed to fully inflate the colon, they did not see anything there. This delayed diagnosis by another few months which may have been critical to their prognosis.They fought for eight years against cancer and the insurance company, and were scheduled to undergo a procedure earlier this year at Yale which may have eliminated the cancer in their peritoneum (often the last holdout for metastasized CRC, and with our current medicine, basically impossible to remove, I'm told), until a certain American president cut funding to basically all medical research. They passed a few months after they would have had the procedure.Do not ignore the symptoms, and make sure to absolutely force the issue with your PCP/doctor if the symptoms persist, even if your colonoscopy comes back clear. PCP's don't want to upset insurers with useless referrals and many get their egos bruised if you think you know better. Even MD's will half-ass a colonoscopy if they get too comfortable with their judgement. You have to be your own advocate in America's medical system because nobody gives a shit if they get you killed, so long as they don't have to pay for it.IIRC doctors wanted to lower the age for CRC screening but insurers didn't want to pay for it, so don't fall into a sense of security because you "aren't old enough".And for those of you worried about a stranger looking up your ass, I've had a coloscopy myself and it's not that bad. These people look up stranger's assholes all day every day.
- SpacecosmonautI'm 35. I had a preventative colonoscopy done (I had to insist). I payed out of pocket since these checkups normally start at 50.Adenoma found and removed.This is a type of cancer that is almost entirely preventable with screening. Get your tubes checked.
- andaiDoes this track differences between generations (i.e. environmental changes), or the age-related differences within a single cohort, or somehow both at once?
- cobaltpathI wonder if the higher proportion of stromal cells in young tumors is a direct result of specific dietary components or gut microbiome variations rather than just inherent biology. The study mentions looking at how cell programs interact with diet and microbes, but it seems early onset cases often present with distinct inflammatory profiles in the colon itself before tumor formation.It would be interesting to see if these long non-coding RNAs show up consistently in pre cancerous polyps in younger patients or only after malignant transformation. If they are elevated early on, that could actually help solve the diagnosis problem where many late stage cancers are found, assuming we can target them specifically.
- BrtByte[dead]
- 484849955Its anal, sorry this is haram to publish T. Postdoc