Right verses left colon cancer symptoms

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Jaymendoza88
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:56 pm

Right verses left colon cancer symptoms

Postby Jaymendoza88 » Wed Feb 10, 2021 12:23 am

Hi all, first I would like to say how much respect I have for those dealing with colon cancer and staying positive thru it all. The reason for this post is to get a little insight on the different symptoms that comes with right side and left side colon cancer. I’ve been having rectal bleeding and narrow and loose stools for for some years now. I had a sigmoidoscopy done 2 weeks ago and had 2 5mm hyperplastic polyps remove from my left colon. The nurse practitioners had told me that she went up further then they normally do and that my colon looked healthy and did not schedule me for a colonoscopy. Should I get a second opinion? Is it likely to have polyps on both sides of the colon or have a benign polyp on the left and a tumor on the right? I would really appreciate to hear people’s experience with right side and left side colon cancer

I_will_fight
Posts: 148
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:38 pm

Re: Right verses left colon cancer symptoms

Postby I_will_fight » Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:27 am

Hi Jay, and welcome.

I am not medically trained but I think, given the symptomps you are reporting, you should have a complete colonoscopy performed on you. It is a painless and mostly risk-free procedure, the main inconvenience is drinking the preparation and avoiding specific foods a day or two before it is done. I think everyone in this forum wishes to have had a colonoscopy performed on them earlier than they had it.

At best you will know hou have nothing to worry about, at worst you will have caught it as early as possible and that can make a big difference.

Have your symptoms resolved after your intervention? If they have it might mean that the reason for your loose and narrow stools were those polyps and there is nothing else to be removed.

But in any case, in my humble opinion it would be wise to request a colonoscopy.

Good luck and best regards.

Javi
46 yo male Spain
06/2020 - 6cm T3N0M0 CC splenic flex
3 and 4 mm lung ground glass
lymp 0/37
dMMR MSH6
KRAS mt G13D
V/LNI absent
PNI present
07/20 - hemicol surg, optimistic surgeon.
11/20 - 4 x CAPOX completed.
12/20 - Clear colonoscopy
02/21 - MRI liver lesion unchanged.
11/21 - Clear CT
02/22- Colonoscopy: Sessil polyp 3mm
05/22- Clear CT
06/22- Negative Signatera
12/22- Negative Signatera
01/23- Clear CT
07/23- Clear CT, normal markers.
09/23 - Negative Signatera
01/24 - Clear CT

polluxx
Posts: 76
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:41 pm

Re: Right verses left colon cancer symptoms

Postby polluxx » Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:38 am

I don’t know the answer to your question, but I can share a little about my right sided tumor.

This time last year, I noticed that I was short of breath. My youngest was getting over a respiratory virus so I figured I’d start getting more symptoms later, but that never happened. I just kept feeling like I was getting less and less air.

I put off getting checked out until I was literally crawling from one room to the next because I didn’t have enough oxygen to walk. My husband took me to the ER where they found my lungs completely full of blood clots. They also found I was very anemic. The ER doctor told me right then and there that blood clots+anemia=cancer.

I was able to get a colonoscopy and I had the tumor removed the following day, even before the biopsy came back.

The doctors told me I was very lucky to have survived the PEs, but the clots also saved my life because the lead to the discovery of 3c cancer before it became stage 4. I know right sided cancers have a worse prognosis than left sided tumors. I think this is partly because there are not as many symptoms other than anemia, whereas patients can see the blood from left sided tumors more easily and can get the bleeding checked out before they become as advanced.
Stage 3c
2/2020 Right colon hemicolectomy (invasive adenocarcinoma with micropillary features)
Moderately differentiated
Tumor size: 4.4 in greatest dimension Metastatic Carcinoma in 12 out of 28 lymph nodes
Extranodal extension identified
Margins negative

3/2020 Began 12 rounds of FolFox
9/2020 Finished FolFox
12/2020 PET Scan-NED
1-2021 ctDNA Test negative
5-2021 ctDNA Test negative
7-2021 ctDNA Test negative
9-2021 PET/CT Scan-NED

Beckster
Posts: 438
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2017 3:01 pm
Location: New Jersey

Re: Right verses left colon cancer symptoms

Postby Beckster » Thu Feb 11, 2021 6:02 am

My story of right sided cancer started with a routine colonoscopy at the age of 57. I had no symptoms and my bloodwork was perfect. In early stages right sided cancer will present with no symptoms and no visible blood. My surgeon told me that if I had waited until there was symptoms, such as anemia, unexplained weight loss and black stools, it would have been more advanced than stage 2A. He said that if I waited until I was 60, I would have been stage 4. Unfortunately, right sided cancer has a worse prognosis because it is usually found at a later stage. This routine colonoscopy saved my life. This is not to scare you, it is meant that if you feel uncomfortable with the diagnoses you got, ask for a colonoscopy for a peace of mind.
57/F
DX:(CC) 10/19/16
11/4/16- Lap right hemi(cecum)
CEA- Pre Op (1.9), Pre Chemo (2.5)
Type: Adenocarcinoma
Tumor size:3.5 cm x 2.5 x 0.7 cm
Grade: G3
TNM: T3N0M0/IIA
LN: 0/24
LVI present
Surgical margins: clear
MSS
12/27/2016 - Capeox, anaphylactic
1/2/17 to 6/9/17- Xeloda
6/17,12/17,6/18,12/18,6/19,12/19,12/20,12/21 CT Scan NED :D
CEA- 6/17- 3.6, 9/17- 2.8 12/17-2.8, 3/18-3.1, 6/18-3.0, 9/18 2.8, 12/18 2.5 3/19 3.1 6/19 3.1 9/19 2.6 12/19 2.8 6/20 3.0 12/20 2.7 6/21 2.9,[color=#000000]12/21 2.7[/color]
Clear Colonoscopy 10/17, 11/19,11/21 :D

boxhill
Posts: 789
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2018 11:40 am

Re: Right verses left colon cancer symptoms

Postby boxhill » Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:43 am

I had a right-sided tumor, which did not present symptoms until I had a blockage and had progressed to Stage IV. No bloody stools or anything like that. When diagnosed, I was 8 years out from a clean colonoscopy. I did have frequent lose stools and diarrhea, but that was almost certainly because of metformin. (I'm still on metformin and it is still an issue for me. Having 30% less colon obviously doesn't help! :) )

My tumor most likely sprang from a sessile polyp in the hepatic flexure. Such tumors are difficult to detect at an early stage. As to your question about whether one can have benign polyps on one side and cancer on the other, all I can say is that my recent colonoscopy revealed two benign sessile polyps on the left side. So yes, one can.

Personally, I don't see any point in a sigmoidoscopy. It may eliminate the possibility of rectal cancer, but it fails to examine most of the colon. It certainly wouldn't have found my cancer.

ETA: The issue of comparative prognosis for right and left side tumors is complex. A few years ago, they would say that right side tumors had a worse prognosis. This was because of several factors. First, perhaps, that as stated here they tend to show fewer symptoms early on, thus they are often discovered at a later stage. But another thing is that right sided tumors are more likely to be MSI. KRAS mutation is also somewhat more likely on the right side. MSI tumors respond less well to FOLFOX, and MSI/KRAS tumors even less so. Since the advent of immunotherapy, this is turned on its head. It is important to put all prognosis generalizations in context.
F, 64 at DX CRC Stage IV
3/17/18 blockage, r hemi
11 of 25 LN,5 mesentery nodes
5mm liver met
pT3 pN2b pM1
BRAF wild, KRAS G12D
dMMR, MSI-H
5/18 FOLFOX
7/18 and 11/18 CT NED
12/18 MRI 5mm liver mass, 2 LNs in porta hepatis
12/31/18 Keytruda
6/19 Multiphasic CT LNs normal, Liver stable
6/28/19 Pause Key, predisone for joint pain
7/31/19 Restart Key
9/19 CT stable
Pain: all fails but Celebrex
12/23/19 CT stable
5/20 MRI stable/NED
6/20 Stop Key
All MRIs NED


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