DESPITE having a physical examination every year, a man in Shenzhen was recently distressed by the fact that he was diagnosed with mid-stage colorectal cancer, Southern Metropolis Daily reported Sunday.

According to the man surnamed Wu, he has had difficulty evacuating his bowels and has to go to the toilet seven to eight times a day. The problem has been tormenting him for more than a year.

At first, Wu thought that he suffered from hemorrhoids and believed that the symptom would disappear if he kept applying hemorrhoidal ointment.

As Wu has diabetes, he has to go to the community health center to get medicine from time to time. Not long ago, he learned from the doctor at the center that he was old enough to be screened for colorectal cancer.

Wu was reluctant to have a screening and disclosed his problem of having difficulty in emptying his bowels. But he thought that although he had an annual physical examination, he had never had a gastroenteroscopy procedure, so he agreed.

And the news came like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky when he was told that he had developed colorectal cancer.

According to the data released by Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control this year, colorectal cancer is the third-largest cancer killer in Shenzhen.

In China, the incidence and mortality rate of colorectal cancer follow only lung cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer and esophageal cancer.

Although the figures seem alarming, the five-year survival rate of colorectal cancer can reach 90 percent as long as there is early detection and treatment.

According to doctors, the best way to prevent colorectal cancer is to get regular checkups. So far, colonoscopy is the most effective and common type of screening for colorectal cancer.

(Zhang Yu)