If you have any of these symptoms, talk to your doctor as soon as possible. The symptoms may be caused by something other than cancer — the only way to know is to see your doctor.
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Diagnostic Tests for Colorectal Cancer
If your doctor finds something suspicious during a screening exam, or if you have symptoms of colorectal cancer, your doctor will probably recommend one or more exams to find the cause.
- A medical history and physical exam may include your personal and family history and an examination of your abdomen, rectum and other areas.
- Blood tests may be required. Your doctor may want to check the level of several substances in your blood
- Endoscopic procedures use flexible lighted tubes to examine your colon and rectum. You may have had a colonoscopy or a sigmoidoscopy as part of a screening exam.
- During a biopsy your doctor removes a sample of the suspicious cells and a pathologist examines them. If your doctor saw something suspicious during a screening endoscopy, a biopsy was probably performed as part of the examination.
- Imaging tests are done with either ultrasounds, chest X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans and MRI may be used to identify the location of the cancer and determine whether it has spread.