Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, occurring in approximately 5 percent of the population and resulting in roughly 55,000 deaths annually. New cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed in approximately 90 per 100,000 people annually. The majority of cases occur in individuals older than age fifty. Of those who suffer from colorectal malignancy, an estimated 40 percent will die from the disease.

Colon cancer-related health-care costs, consisting of outpatient visits, hospitalizations, hospice and home health care, medications, and physician services, exceed $5 billion per year. This figure does not include the indirect costs of wages lost and reduced productivity.

A colonic polyp, or visible growth, is created by the overgrowth of colonic epithelial cells. Such uncontrolled cell division is not always cancerous, but may become malignant. DNA mutations of the colonic epithelial cells—the cause of the overgrowth—may be hereditary.

Developing Cancer

The...