Colon, Stomach, Soft Tissue Diseases

Colon cancer is the 4th most common cancer among all cancer types, and approximately 1 million new cases of colon cancer are diagnosed each year in the world. Today, a person with average risk has a 4-5% risk of developing colon cancer during a lifetime. Due to this risk, the number of patients diagnosed with colon cancer is expected to continue to increase over the years, and the fastest increase in cancer is expected to occur in low- and middle-income countries, including our country.

The other aspect that increases the importance of colon cancer is that it is among the preventable cancers. In order to be able to call a cancer preventable cancer, it must be treated before the cancer develops or by being diagnosed at an early stage without impairing the person's life expectancy and comfort. 90% of colon cancers are in the innermost part of the intestine called polyp. It develops from the masses resulting from the abnormal growth of the cells in the layer. Approximately 35% of people around the age of 50 who have no complaints have large intestinal polyps. It takes about 10 years for these polyps to turn into cancer, which is vital for the development of cancer with non-surgical interventions. During this period, polyp diagnosis can be made with a colonoscopy to be performed (figure 1) and treatment is provided by removing the polyp with the method we call polypectomy (figure 2). If there are polyps that are too large or too large to be removed, there is a chance to provide treatment by operating with the laparoscopic (closed) method.