Rectal Bleeding Written Off as Piles
This is the single most dangerous dismissal in colorectal cancer diagnosis in India. A patient notices blood in the stool or on toilet paper, assumes haemorrhoids, and waits. Sometimes they are right. Often they are not. Haemorrhoids produce bright-red blood on the surface of stool or on tissue. Blood mixed into the stool, dark-coloured, or appearing repeatedly over weeks is a different signal. A 2022 study published in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology found that the median delay between first symptoms and colorectal cancer diagnosis in Indian patients was 6.5 months, and rectal bleeding was the most frequently self-explained symptom. The rule is simple: any rectal bleeding that recurs, regardless of a known piles history, needs a colonoscopy.
