Should the presence of iron deficiency anemia be part of the decision-making as to whether to examine the entire colon when patients have symptoms of colorectal cancer?
Researchers reviewed hemoglobin levels for 194 patients who had surgery for colon cancer in right-hand or ascending portion of the colon (*right hemicolectomy*). 44% of men and 57% of women met definitions for anemia. Even when less a stringent definition of “low hemoglobin” were used, not all patients were found to be anemic.
It is not possible to rule out right-sided colon cancer if symptomatic patients are not anemic, and a full examination of the colon with colonoscopy is essential when patients have symptoms of colorectal cancer. At the same time, unexplained anemia may be a sign of right-sided colon cancer and should also be evaluated with colonoscopy.
Study results appear in the November 2005 issue of [Colorectal Disease](http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/cdi/2005/00000007/00000006/art00010) The authors concluded,
Anaemia is a poor predictor of right-sided colon cancers and cannot be used as an effective investigative tool in symptomatic patients.
Leave a Reply
Your comments are welcome. However, specific medical advice will not be provided. Generic QUESTIONS can be directed to our Answer Line team at http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/awareness/answer-line or by calling us at 1-877-427-2111 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Eastern time, Monday – Friday. We urge you to consult with a qualified physician for diagnosis and for answers to your personal questions. Fight Colorectal Cancer is not responsible for the medical accuracy of any comments left by persons other than Fight Colorectal Cancer staff members. Fight Colorectal Cancer staff members monitor comments and may respond publicly where appropriate.
Please note that we automatically publish the name that you enter next to your post. Also note that our pages are automatically indexed by Google and other search engines, and your name may therefore appear in search results on those sites. So if you wish to remain anonymous please use a different name or enter 'Anon' as the name.
We regret that we are unable to privately answer questions left as comments. So please do not include your phone number, email or mailing address in the body of your comment.