 Hi, my name is Dr. Manjana Tharedas, a colorectal surgeon in the department of surgical gastroenterology, Manipal Hospital, Whitefield. A lot of people think that colon cancer only affects the elderly individuals, but no, colon cancer is very common. It is one of the most common bowel cancer that is there at this point in time. Colon cancer can affect anybody, but most commonly it affects the elderly, but nowadays it is seen as young as 45 year old. If you have any change in bowel habits, if you have any loss of weight, if you have any blood in your stools, if you have any irregular bowel habits, and you are in this risk group of more than 45 years, the American surgical gastroenterology group recommends you to have a colonoscopy. And it is the right thing to do too. Now, colonoscopy will not only predict cancer, but also it is able to predict polyps as well. Polyp is a growth that happens in the colon. Before you develop any kind of a cancer, it starts from the polyp. This is what we call as an adenoma-carcinoma sequence. It is very important to recognize the polyps, especially the high-risk polyps, a villus polyp or a tubular villus polyp, which can go into a cancer in a short period of time. That is the reason why anybody who is at the age of 45 years in the bowel should have a colonoscopy. It prevents future cancer. And this is one effective way that has shown over a period of time in a good way to control the incidence of colorectal cancer. The incidence of colorectal cancer in India especially has been progressively increasing. Over the last two decades, it has increased over 20%. And this is very high. We can see almost 8 to 10 patients with colorectal cancer in every 1 lakh population. We are doing almost closer to 100 to 150 colorectal cancer surgeries. And that is very sad, but this actually shows that the incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing. So, once you come into our department and you have had a colonoscopy, you may be diagnosed with a polyp, wherein a polypectomy will be recommended. Or if the polyp is too large, we have special maneuvers that we can do to get rid of the polyp. Once you are diagnosed with a colorectal cancer, you will undergo special investigations, which will include a CT scan of the abdomen, a couple of blood tests, and also your case will be discussed in a multi-disciplinary team meeting. The multi-disciplinary approach is very important, especially with the ongoing research, especially in the colorectal cancer patients. There's a lot of new data that is available and we have to be very specific in how we treat patients. Recently, I operated on a patient who actually had large cancer out of a polyp. And we were able to remove that polyp with a newer technique, saving the patient a big surgery and also the morbidity of what we call a stoma. So, there are different ways we can manage colorectal cancers. For you to know in detail and in specific about your case, you would need to see either me or one of us in the surgical department, Manipal Hospital, Whitefield. So, in a nutshell, colorectal cancer is one of the most common bowel cancer. Its incidence is progressively increasing in India. It is most commonly affects people above the age of 45, but it can also affect younger patients as well. The main important modality of treatment of colorectal cancer for a complete cure is surgery at this point in time. But there are a lot of research that is still ongoing at this point in time about chemotherapy and radiation in a special category of rectal cancer which is shown to be very effective. So, you know how vast the colorectal cancer treatment modalities are and how different imaging techniques can be used for detecting colorectal cancer. We at Manipal Hospital, Whitefield, a tertiary and a coternary center for all specialized cancers will welcome you to visit us and experience us in helping you to go through the treatment of cancer. Once again, thank you.