Examining the mouth lining may detect risk of colon cancer, according to a report in Familial Cancer.
A team led by Johns Hopkins researchers found that a hereditary colon cancer syndrome, familial adenomatous polyposis, is associated with abnormally dense blood vessel growth in the skin lining the mouth.
People who have even one copy of the mutant gene that causes FAP develop hundreds of precancerous colorectal polyps in their teens and most have their colons removed after diagnosis to avoid a near-100 percent risk of colon cancer by middle age.
Read the Familial Cancer report on colon cancer.
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