Most people report doing well four years after treatment for colorectal cancer, according to a study that asked them about physical and emotional problems. Fatigue was the most frequently reported problem with 1 in 4 survivors bothered by it.
In general the symptoms former patients reported were not much different than those experienced by the general population.
Fourteen percent reported diarrhea, 7 percent had constipation.
Reported symptoms were more likely in those patients who had radiation therapy or an ostomy. Reductions in physical activity were reported more often in those who had radiation treatment — 30 percent versus 10 percent of those who didn’t have radiotherapy.
Some survivors attributed health problems to their cancer treatment, including 24 percent who "worried about health", 19 percent who had "physical discomfort", and 15 percent who reported limitations to their activities.
474 people, treated in 1998, were asked about their current symptoms. Seventy percent were treated for colon cancer, the other thirty percent had rectal cancer treatment.
Dr. Eric Schneider and colleagues wrote,
Among colorectal cancer survivors the prevalence of symptoms at 4 years was low and relatively comparable to published estimates for the general population, but some survivors continue to attribute health effects to cancer or its treatment.
SOURCE: Schneider et al, Cancer, Volume 110, Issue 9, November 1, 2007.
