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Originally Posted by Munchkin03
Of anal cancer! That sounds terrible. How does one get anal cancer? Is it like colon cancer that spreads, or is it like cervical cancer?
(PS, I'm at work, and Googling "anal cancer symptoms and causes" is not what I should be doing now.)
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Heard of colorectal cancer? That's what she had. Hence the "rectal" part of it. Rectal cancer usually gets grouped in with colon cancer because essentially it's the same part of the body...just in different segments. Suspected causes of colorectal cancer: heredity, age, poor diet among other possibilities. But really it could happen to anyone. This is why it's important to get a colonoscopy once you turn 50! If treated early, colorectal cancer is very curable; but if it's not caught until stage 3 or 4, survival is diminished.
ETA: I had heard she had rectal cancer, but see now that she had anal cancer. I looked it up to see if it was different than rectal, and apparently it is. HPV is listed as the most likely cause of most anal cancers.