Is it possible to have blood in your stool, but not have colorectal cancer?

Yes: The most common causes of rectal bleeding are diverticular disease, arteriovenous malformations of the colon, and hemorrhoids. The bleeding caused by colorectal cancer is typically not significant enough to be seen by the naked eye.

Yes: Other causes include diverticulosis, ulcerative colitis, crohn's, ischemic colitis, infectious colitis, polyps, hemorrhoids and fissure.

Blood in stool: The most comman source of blood in the stool is Hemorrhoids or anal fissure. Evaluation for colon cancer is a more age related issue. Patients over age 40 should be evaluated with colonoscopy to rule out other possible causes of bleeding, eCenter if there hemorrhoids are prominent. Under 40, if office exam reveals minimal findings, then colonoscopy should be completed on a case by case basis.