Health Communication

Health Communication Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the common types of cancers in United States of America. Despite complexities associated with diseases majorly on the causes and management, there is still much that the public health department and a medical professional can do to minimize a high number of casualties. CRC affects the colon and rectum. The best approach in dealing with the disease is early detection through sensitive screening when symptoms associated with it are realized. 

Causes and Risk Factors of Colorectal Cancer 

Most clinical studies have failed to establish why the disease is prevalent among particular persons and not in others. However, they are factors that increase the chances of development of colorectal cancer. They are some elements in genetic syndromes that increase the risks of the diseases (Abduljaleel, 2019). Smoking, obesity, excessive consumption of alcohol, low fiber diet, high intake of animal proteins, and saturated fats.  A family history of the disease, old age, and having incidences of breast and uterine cancers also risk factors associated with colorectal cancer. 

Signs and Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer 

Blood in stool or fresh blooding oozing from the rectum is one of the common signs. Other signs include persistent bowel movement, intense abdominal discomfort, prolonged constipation, fatigue, and excessive loss of weight.     

Screening Methods 

They are several screening methods of CRC. The most common methods are stool-based tests and physical examination. The stool based screening methods are fecal immune-chemical test (FIT), and guaiac based fecal occult blood test (gFOBT) methods (Li, 2018).  Other screening methods are sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy. 

Prevention Measures 

Lifestyle adjustments are one of the best colorectal cancer preventive methods.  A decrease in animal-based foods and increasing consumption of vegetables, wholesome grains, fruits, and fiber-rich foods decrease the risks of developing CRC(Lance, 2019). Prompt treatment of colon and rectum diseases such as ulcers, bowel movement complications, and constipation can also help in reducing the chances of the disease to an extent.

 Risk Assessment and Risk Communication on the disease management 

Healthcare workers have a critical role to play in risk analysis of colorectal cancer and establishing a suitable communication process to help in reducing fatalities due to the diseases. Risk communication is a necessary process as it depicts complexities in the interpretation of familiar-risks and deficiency methodical collections, assessment, and validation methods that enable primary health care providers to provide timely intervention measures (Li et al., 2019).The process entails educating persons that their family history, lifestyle, or environment they live in, exposes them to the risk of CRC.     

Practices in Routine Colorectal Cancer Screening and sustainability 

Routine colorectal cancer screening is essential in making an early diagnosis for prompt treatment. Most of the people are willing to undergo the testing if their family physicians recommend the process.  For better outcomes to be realized, clinicians should be sensitized on the need for them to become screening advocates. Sustaining the routine screening requires focusing on patients who are at high risk of developing cancer.  Stool-based testing and visual examination of the colon and rectum are more sustainable. 

Updates on Testing Technology and ways to overcome the Barrier of implementation 

There has been development in testing of CRC. Computed tomography (CT) colonography is one of the diagnostic methods that have been adapted for accurate and timely results. Significant barrier for the high-end diagnosis process is that they are costly. The high cost has made it difficult to use these improved CRC methods .Early detection is one of the best strategy to avoid use high cost CRC testing options. 

References

Abduljaleel, Z. (2019). Association of Functional Variants and Protein-to-Protein Physical Interactions of Human MutY homolog linked with Familial Adenomatous Polyposis and colorectal cancer Syndrome. https://doi.org/10.1101/552943 

Lance, P. (2019). Colorectal Cancer Prevention.Fundamentals of Cancer Prevention, 473-509. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15935-1_14 

Li, D. (2018). Recent advances in colorectal cancer screening. Chronic Diseases and Translational Medicine, 4(3), 139-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdtm.2018.08.004 

Li, J., Luo, S., Wong, M. C., Li, C., Feng, L., Peng, J., Li, J., & Zhang, X. (2019). Longitudinal associations between BMI change and the risks of colorectal cancer incidence, cancer-relate and all-cause mortality among 81,388 older adults. BMC Cancer, 19(1).https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-019-6299-4