Entertainer Yu Yuan-chi has died of colon cancer at the age of 39. Doctors say the average age of colon cancer patients has fallen, and diet and lifestyle are the keys to prevention.
Yu Yuan-chi died of colon cancer on the 21st at the age of 39. Colon cancer has taken a number of celebrities in recent years, including He Yi-hang and Chu Ke-liang. Doctors say the main risk factors in colon cancer are diet and lifestyle.
Kang Jung-cheng, Proctologist, Taiwan Adventist Hospital: “Risk factors including consuming an excess of grilled foods, sugary beverages, and processed foods; not eating enough fruit and vegetables; not exercising enough; and obesity.”
There was one new case of cancer reported every four minutes and 20 seconds in Taiwan in 2019. Colon cancer, which has ranked at the top of the list for 14 years straight, again came in first with 17,000 new cases. Doctors say the average of age of colon cancer patients has fallen in recent years.
Kang Jung-cheng, Proctologist, Taiwan Adventist Hospital: “Due to the location of the rectum, many people write off bloody stool -- a symptom of rectal cancer -- as hemorrhoids and just ignore it.”
Hsieh Pei-chun, Cancer Prevention and Control Specialist, Health Promotion Administration: “The HPA provides a free fecal occult blood test every two years for people between the ages of 50 and 74.”
Doctors say people with a family history of rectal cancer are two to four times more likely to get the disease. In addition, regular fecal occult blood testing can provide an early diagnosis in the absence of symptoms. When caught in the first stage, the five-year survival rate of colon cancer is 90 percent.
藝人余苑綺罹患大腸直腸癌，不幸在昨（21）日病逝，享年39歲，近年來也有許多名人不敵大腸癌離世，包括藝人賀一航、豬哥亮等。醫師表示，罹患大腸癌的主要原因在於飲食跟生活習慣。
台安醫院大腸直腸外科醫師糠榮誠就說：「像我們現在知道燒烤，還有含糖飲料，還有一些加工食品，我們現在蔬菜水果吃得比較少，加上現在運動也變少，所以肥胖，這些都是一些原因。」
根據國健署最新統計，108年國人癌症登記報告，平均每4分20秒就有一人罹癌，其中大腸癌新發生人數最多，有1.7萬多人，已連續14年蟬聯十大癌症之首。醫師提醒，大腸癌好發於高齡長者，不過近年來50歲以下患者增加，有年輕化趨勢。
糠榮誠指出：「像直腸癌一般在比較靠近肛門口，所以一般容易排便出血的現象，很多人會誤以為說這是痔瘡流血，所以我們也有很多人，把這個直腸癌的流血，當作痔瘡流血不管它。」
國健署癌症防治組簡任技正謝佩君則提到：「國健署有補助50歲到74歲，每2年一次、免費的糞便潛血檢查的這個篩檢。」
醫師表示，家族有直腸癌病史者，罹癌機率比一般人高出2到4倍，雖然大腸癌初期幾乎沒有明顯症狀，但可藉由定期做糞便潛血檢查，早期發現異常，大腸癌第一期治療後，5年存活率可高達9成。