You're listening to life kit from NPR.
Hey, everybody, it's Marielle.
Today's episode is about something super important that a lot of us put getting screened for colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer cases are on the rise among younger people, folks under 50.
Since the mid 1990s, cases in that group have increased by about 50%.
It's now considered one of the deadliest cancers in this age group.
That was Allison Aubrey.
She's a health correspondent at NPR.
And she says researchers are still trying to figure out the reason for this jump.
They're looking at factors like diet and antibiotic use.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 20,000 Americans under age 50 will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and more than 3700 will die from it.
Now, we're not telling you all this to scare you, but colorectal cancer screenings are something to take seriously, and they're effective because colorectal cancer typically grows slowly over many years.
And most of the cancers start out as a growth called a polyp.
A polyp is basically a small clump of cells that form on the lining of the colon.
So taking a polyp out early may keep it from turning into cancer.
And even if you end up having colorectal cancer, it's treatable, especially when you catch it early.
Cancer of the colon is considered highly treatable by the National Cancer Institute and often curable when localized to the bowel.
Surgery is the main way that it's treated, and it leads to a cure.
According to the NCI, in about 50% of patients, however, the cancer can recur, and this is a major problem and is often the cause of death in people who die from colorectal cancer.
That's more likely to happen if the.