Doctor who is dedicating her career to solving mystery of colon cancer in young people reveals what could be causing explosion of cases - and the three warning signs of disease READ MORE: If you have these two symptoms, you should get a colonoscopy By Cassidy Morrison Senior Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com Published: 19:13 BST, 21 May 2024 | Updated: 20:00 BST, 21 May 2024 e-mail 14 View comments Dr Kimmie Ng, an oncologist at the premier Dana-Farber Cancer Center has dedicated her life to the study of GI cancers and is particularly concerned about the rise in such cancers in people under 50 Dr Kimmie Ng has become a frontline witness to one of the greatest medical mysteries of her generation. The Boston oncologist has launched the world's first center dedicated to studying an explosion of cancers in young people.
In the 1990s, doctors began seeing a rise in the number of otherwise healthy people under 50 being stricken with cancer , especially colorectal cancer. Three decades later, scientists expect the number of early-onset colon cancer sufferers will double by 2030 in what some have labeled an 'epidemic'. Dr Ng, who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers, which also include cancers of the stomach and pancreas, said the days of cancer being a disease of the elderly was over.
'That is not what we're seeing in our clinics. Actually, these very, very young people are often very healthy,' she said . 'They're very active, exercise a lot, follow healthy diets, and they don't .
