Guide To Colon Cancer Causes And Risk Factors

Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease where an individual experiences tissue damage, long-lasting inflammation, and ulcers throughout their digestive tract. Most patients experience the effects of ulcerative colitis in the interior lining of their large intestine. The body is continuously repairing the damage to the tissues and cells that make up the inner intestine lining in an ulcerative colitis patient. This high turnover and repair rate in the intestinal tissues provides more opportunities than usual for a change or mutation to occur in the DNA of the intestinal cells. A DNA mutation in one of the intestinal cells that causes it to grow rapidly and replicate out of control can cause an individual to develop a growth of malignant cells. When a growth of malignant cells forms in the large intestine, it is referred to as colon cancer. Out of all individuals affected by ulcerative colitis for twenty years or longer, eight percent will develop colon cancer.

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