symptoms
Last reviewed 01/2018
Possible symptoms of right-sided colonic carcinoma include:
- pallor, debility, breathlessness - due to iron deficiency anaemia caused by prolonged bleeding
- loss of weight and anorexia
- occult blood in faeces
- persistent, dull ache in right iliac fossa, often postprandial and mistakenly attributed to gallbladder or gastroduodenal disease. This is a late symptom.
Less commonly:
- intestinal colic and intestinal obstruction if the growth occludes the ileocaecal valve
- acute appendicitis if the tumour blocks the mouth of the appendix, causing it to dilate
- change in bowel habit, either constipation or diarrhoea but not both alternately