40. Rectal adenocarcinoma

Organ: Rectum

Description:

Most of the mucosa is overtaken by a cancer. The cancerous part has irregular and slightly greyish surface, while the healthy mucosa is more regular and is slightly more whitish.

Diagnosis: Rectal adenocarcinoma

Risk factors:

Ulcerative colitis
Bad diet

Theory:

The adenocarcinoma is ulcerated at the deepest point, however that is not easily visible on the picture. The difference in colour between the healthy and cancerous tissue isn’t great due to the formalin fixation.

Colorectal cancers have different symptoms depending on their location. If they occur on the right side of the body (mostly the ascending colon) will the symptoms be:

Weight loss
Occult (invisible) bleeding, which may lead to anaemia and

If colorectal cancer occurs on the left side (mostly the descending and sigmoid colon) will the symptoms be:

Alternating diarrhoea and constipation
Palpable nodule
Haematochezia
Ileus

The differences in the symptoms can be attributed to how the ascending colon has a larger diameter than the descending.