8-year-old diagnosed with cancer after feeling constipated; is there a link between the two?

Following a chest X-ray, it was detected that his lungs had filled with fluid. “Even to my untrained eye, I could see something was seriously wrong with my son, as you couldn’t define his two lungs on the X-ray. Within an hour, Harrison was in the theatre having a chest drain inserted and two litres of infected fluid were instantly drained off! In total, eight litres of fluid, including blood, were drained off over three weeks,” she shared.

In 2022, he was diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, fast-growing cancer that showed as a mass in his thorax. “There are no words to describe how it feels to hear those words as a diagnosis for your beloved child.”

Harrison’s diagnosis of cancer after constipation issues made us wonder if there’s a possible link between the two. As such, we reached out to experts who shared their insights.

In rare cases, constipation may be caused by colon cancer (Source: Getty Images)

Dr Santosh Kumar Enaganti, HOD, Senior Consultant, Department of Medical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad said that while constipation is normally due to dietary habits and poor intake of fibre as well as dehydration, a recent onset is an indirect indication of abnormality inside the bowel, which could be a cancer. “Constipation with localised pain and persistent constipation in spite of normal diet is indicative of the constructive type of cancer. That means the inside of the lumen of the intestine will become narrow causing small pallet-like stools associated with pain and bleeding. That’s when we call it an obstructing structuring colon cancer,” he said.

Adding, Dr Tirathram Kaushik, Consultant Oncosurgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mira Road said that a tumour that presses on the nerves in your spinal cord can slow down or stop the movement of your bowel. “This causes constipation. Tumours in the tummy (abdomen) can squash, squeeze, or narrow the bowel and back passage (rectum) making it difficult for you to have a bowel motion,” he said, adding that constipation may be an indication of colon cancer in rare circumstances.

Suggesting contacting a doctor if constipation lasts more than three weeks and/or is accompanied by significant discomfort and blood in your stools, Dr Kaushik said, “A consistent change in bowel habits, such as diarrhoea or constipation, or a change in stool consistency, blood in your faeces or rectal bleeding should be discussed with a healthcare provider. Constipation is not a life-threatening disorder in and of itself. However, ignoring the issue may result in long-term and chronic constipation. This can lead to various health problems such as colon ulcers or haemorrhoids.”

Further, Dr Enaganti said that the things to watch out for during constipation include a drop in haemoglobin, persistent localised pain, and new onset constipation in spite of a normal diet. “If the constipation is associated with low blood count or recent drop in Hb%, it is a concerning symptom suggesting that there is a growth inside the large intestine,” he said.

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