Colorectal cancer warning for men

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Cancer of the colon and rectum is the most common form of the disease affecting men in Malaysia, surpassing lung cancer.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said yesterday that colorectal cancer was the most frequent kind of cancer among men, accounting for 14.2% of all cancer cases.
Previously, the main cause of the illness among men was lung cancer.
“It is the third most frequent for women in our country, which is 10.1% of all cancers among women.
“And the prevalence and percentage of patients having colorectal cancer is increasing every year,” he said in his speech when opening the Malaysian Society of Gastrointestinal Diseases’ First Congress on GIT Cancers - The Patient’s Perspective.
He said that gastrointestinal problems were the seventh cause of death in government hospitals. They also accounted for 5.2% of all admissions, which amounted to 98,955.
“A lot of these diseases can be dangerous and fatal,” he said.
Later during a press conference, he advised those who were aged 50 and above to go for a colonoscopy every year and those who had a family history of the cancer to have the test twice a year.