colon and breast cancer connection

sadie55 · Guest

Several years prior to my 2001 breast cancer dx, my dad died from colon cancer. I recently had my first colonoscopy in which 5 polyps were removed:
a 2.2cm cecal polyp retreived in peicemeal fashion, villous adenoma:

a 1.3 cm sigmoid colon polyp, snared, cauterized, & retrieved, tubular adenoma:

and 3 small ascending colon polyps.

Also, my dad's mother was a 30 year breast cancer survivor. Is there any connection between these two cancers?

penelopez · Senior User Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 165

Hi,

It wouldn't surprise me if there were a connection, maybe a small one. It seems lots of oncologisits are sending their patients (after they finish treatments) for a colonoscopy. I know on one of the boards, it seems as if everyone has been sent to have one. Why else would they do this?

I'm sure Dr. Leo will know.

Hugs,

Margie

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hi

It is just practice to update your preventive services, so when you go to your doctor he/she should update things like immunizations, colon screening, prostate, etc. But it was thought that having breast cancer increased the risk for colon cancer, but a paper (Lancet. 2001 Mar 17;357(9259):837-40.) shows that there is no such link. There are some hereditary syndromes, such as Hereditary Non-polyposis Colon Cancer Syndrome, which is rare and affect individuals at an early age, and there are several criteria to meet this diagnosis.

regards,
Leo
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MACE1610 · Regular Joined: 27 Nov 2004 Posts: 23 Location: FLORIDA

SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE MY BREAST CANCE I ALSO HAD SEVERAL COLON POLYPS REMOVED. I DO KNOW THAT WHEN I WENT TO MY ONCOLOGIST THE FIRST TIME HE DID BLOOD WORK FOR TUMOR MARKERS. I DID NOT KNOW HE HAD DONE THE ONE FOR COLON CANCER UNTIL HE CALLED ME TO SAY I NEED A COLONOSCOPY BECAUSE THE MARKER CAME BACK HIGH. IT WAS ONLY UP A SMALL AMOUNT. THE COLON DOCTOR WHO I HAVE BEEN SEEING FOR MANY YEARS DUE TO IBS TOLD ME RIGHT OFF NOT TO WORRY SINCE I AM A SMOKER, THAT WILL MAKE COLON MARKERS BE HIGH. I WENT THROUGH ALL THE TEST AND THEY FOUND NOTHING. EVERYTIME THE DO THE BREAST CANCER TUMOR MARKERS THE DO THE ONES FOR THE COLON ALSO. SINCE I HAD NOT TOLD ME ONCOLOGIST ABOUT THE POLYPS THAT I HAD REMOVED SOME 20 YEARS BEFORE IT MAKES ME WONDER WHY HE DID THE COLON MARKERS FROM THE START. MAKES ME WONDER IF THERE IS SOME KIND OF CONNECTION.
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