In particular, rates of colorectal cancer in younger adults have been rising for several decades. The cause for the rise in such GI cancers needs more research.
“It’s likely that there are environmental causes, which include exposures to food, water and micro plastics or lifestyle or dietary changes,” said Cercek, who wasn’t involved with the new research. “You can’t really pin it down to one thing or another. It’s likely multiple factors causing this rise after 1945.”
The appendix is a small pouch that hangs off the large intestine on the lower right side of the abdomen. A blockage can lead to infection and inflammation, called appendicitis, which needs emergency treatment.
Unlike other cancers of the GI tract, appendix cancers aren’t easily found because they’re not as easy to see on abdominal scans and won’t be picked up by colonoscopies, said Dr. Deborah Doroshow, an associate professor of medicine at the Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “So it’s not easy to detect or screen for them.”
In fact, Holowatyj said, about 95% of appendix cancers aren’t spotted until after a person has appendicitis and the appendix is removed and examined by pathologists. As a result, the cancers tend to be at a late stage with poorer long-term prognoses, she added.
Doroshow, who wasn’t involved with the new study, said it’s important for patients and their doctors to be more aware of subtle symptoms. Symptoms such as changes in energy level, a new persistent pain or unexplained weight loss in a young person shouldn’t be ignored, she said.
“If a person is feeling that something is not right it’s always best to get an opinion,” Doroshow said. “We’ve diagnosed young people with cancer whom other health care providers had not taken seriously because they were young.”
Women and people of color may find they need to advocate for themselves, she added.
Doroshow said people shouldn’t be worrying about every single abdominal pain. Rather, it’s persistent pain that would be a concern.