Does an anal fissure increase the risk of colorectal cancer?

No. An anal fissure does not increase your risk of developing colorectal cancer. But since both conditions can produce bleeding as a symptom, it’s important to determine whether cancer may also be present. After treating your anal fissure (thus resolving any bleeding related to the fissure itself), we can screen you for colorectal cancer with a fecal occult blood test (FOBT), which tests for the presence of blood in the stool.

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