Medical Oncologist
CION Cancer Clinics
Your colon cancer and your children: when should they be screened? | CION Cancer Clinics
Most children of a parent with colon cancer do not need any bowel test while they are children. What your diagnosis usually changes is when their own screening should start as adults, which is earlier than for other people. A few inherited conditions are the exception, and finding them starts with testing your tumour. This page explains which situation your family is in and what to do now. At CION Cancer Clinics in Hyderabad, our oncologists explain colon cancer in plain words and plan care around you and your family.
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Medically reviewed by Dr. Naresh GunduConsultant Medical Oncologist · MBBS, DNB (Internal Medicine), DM (Medical Oncology, AIIMS) · last reviewed October 2026, next review due October 2027
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On this page
- Do my children need a bowel test now?
- When should my children's screening start, in each situation?
- What should I do now, and what comes later?
- What happens in childhood, and what waits for adulthood?
- Four things parents worry about, and what is actually true
- What this page cannot tell you
- Common questions about screening your children
The short answer
Do my children need a bowel test now?
Almost always, no. Colon cancer is very rare in childhood, even in families with a strong history, and a colonoscopy in a healthy child carries small risks with nothing to gain. What your children do need is a note in their own medical history, and a plan for when their screening starts as adults.
What your diagnosis changes for them
Your child is a first-degree relative, the closest kind. Their lifetime risk of colon cancer is higher than average. It is higher still if you were diagnosed young, or if other relatives on the same side have had bowel cancer. Guidelines respond by starting their screening earlier in adult life. They do not test children for it.
The few exceptions
Some inherited conditions do change childhood plans. Familial adenomatous polyposis, or FAP, fills the bowel with polyps (small growths on the bowel lining) that can begin in the teenage years, so children of a parent with it are tested young. Lynch syndrome and MUTYH-associated polyposis usually mean testing in early adult life. Your own results decide which of these, if any, applies to your family.
Your children's plan is built from your diagnosis. The first step is always testing you, not them.Which family are you?
When should my children's screening start, in each situation?
The answer depends on what your own tests show. These are the four situations families usually find themselves in.
An ordinary colon cancer
Your tumour shows no sign of an inherited fault, you were diagnosed later in life, and nobody else in the family has had bowel cancer. Your children need nothing now. As adults they usually start screening earlier than other people, often from around forty.
Usually means
- No bowel tests during childhood
- Earlier screening in adult life
- Telling their own doctor about you
Diagnosed young, or several relatives
If you were diagnosed before about fifty, or a parent or sibling of yours also had bowel cancer, the family pattern is stronger. Your children's screening often starts at around forty, or ten years before the youngest diagnosis in the family, whichever comes first. A genetics referral for you is usually worth making.
Lynch syndrome is confirmed
Lynch syndrome is an inherited fault in the genes that repair copying mistakes in cells. Each child has an even chance of inheriting it. Testing for the family fault is usually offered once they are adults, and colonoscopy for carriers starts in their twenties or thirties, depending on the gene.
FAP or another polyposis
In FAP, polyps can appear before adulthood, so children are usually offered a gene test in late childhood or the early teens. Those who carry the fault start regular bowel checks young, as explained in when FAP screening starts. MUTYH polyposis works differently, and a counsellor explains what it means for your children.
Not sure whether this applies to you?
Ask an oncologistFrom now to their adulthood
What should I do now, and what comes later?
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Ask whether your tumour has been tested
Most colon cancers are now checked for mismatch repair (MMR), the system that fixes copying errors in cells. An abnormal result can point towards Lynch syndrome. Ask your oncologist whether it was done, and read what an MMR-deficient result means for your family.
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See a genetics service if your results point there
A counsellor draws your family tree and arranges a blood test for you if it is needed. Genetic testing after a colon cancer diagnosis explains the process. If no fault is found, your children are usually not tested at all.
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Put it in your children's records
Your type of cancer, your age at diagnosis and any gene result belong in each child's medical file. A doctor seeing your son in his late twenties with bleeding needs to know.
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Talk to them at an age that suits them
Younger children need only simple reassurance. Teenagers and adult children can be told what it means for their own health, ideally with a plan already in hand.
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Start their screening at the agreed age
When the time comes, their doctor arranges the first colonoscopy and sets the interval after it. CION arranges colonoscopy through accredited partner centres for families who live near one of our centres.
Side by side
What happens in childhood, and what waits for adulthood?
During childhood
In adult life
Nothing, for most families
Earlier screening than other people their age
A gene test only for FAP and a few rare conditions
A gene test for Lynch syndrome, if a family fault is known
Watching for symptoms, as with any child
Colonoscopy at an interval their doctor sets
Your reports kept safely for later
Their own choice about testing, made with a counsellor
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Commonly believed
Four things parents worry about, and what is actually true
"My children should have a colonoscopy now, just to be safe."
In a healthy child without a polyposis condition, a colonoscopy finds nothing useful. It still carries the small risks of sedation and bowel preparation. The safe plan is the right test at the right age.
"If my cancer is inherited, my children will definitely get it."
An inherited fault passes to about half of children, not all of them. Carriers have a raised risk, not a certainty, and regular colonoscopy can find and remove many polyps before they turn into cancer.
"It passes to sons, so our daughters are safe."
Colon cancer risk passes equally to daughters and sons. In Lynch syndrome, daughters also carry a raised risk of womb and ovarian cancer, which a counsellor will discuss with them as adults.
"I have harmed my children by passing this on."
Nobody chooses the genes they pass on, and most colon cancer is not inherited at all. Knowing about it early lets your children's doctors watch them sooner and more closely, which protects them.
Being straight with you
What this page cannot tell you
It cannot tell you whether your cancer is inherited, or the exact age your children should start screening. Both depend on your tumour results, your age at diagnosis and the rest of your family tree. Your oncologist and a genetic counsellor can answer that. A page cannot.
Who this does not apply to
This page is about colon cancer. If your cancer was in the rectum, the family advice is much the same, and the rectal cancer pages cover your treatment. Anal cancer has different causes and does not follow this pattern; see anal cancer instead.
When symptoms change things
If one of your children already has symptoms, this is no longer a screening question. Blood in the stool, a lasting change in bowel habit, ongoing tummy pain or unexplained tiredness needs a doctor this week, whatever their age. Mention your diagnosis at that visit.
If you are unsure which situation your family is in, call the helpline with your reports. Someone will tell you honestly what your children need, and when.Questions we are asked
Common questions about screening your children
At what age should my children start colon screening?
It depends on your diagnosis. For most families with one affected parent, screening starts earlier than for other adults, often around forty or ten years before the youngest diagnosis in the family. Lynch syndrome and polyposis bring it forward further. Their own doctor confirms the exact age.
Should my children have a genetic test?
Only if a fault has been found in you or in another relative. Testing a child for a condition that affects adults, such as Lynch syndrome, usually waits until they are grown up and can choose for themselves. FAP is the main exception, because polyps can start in the teenage years.
Is a stool test enough for my grown-up children?
For someone whose parent had colon cancer, colonoscopy is usually preferred, because it looks at the whole colon and polyps can be removed during it. A stool test such as FIT is a screening test only. A positive result leads to colonoscopy. It does not diagnose cancer.
My son is in his twenties and has bleeding. Should he wait for screening?
No. Symptoms are never a screening question. Bleeding, a lasting change in bowel habit, anaemia (a low haemoglobin) or weight loss needs a doctor this week. Severe tummy pain with vomiting, or being unable to pass stool or wind, needs the emergency department today.
Do my grandchildren need anything?
Usually not because of your diagnosis alone. Grandchildren are more distant relatives, and their risk is close to average unless a gene fault is found in the family. If one is found, the counsellor explains who else can be tested, and at what stage of life.
What if my children live in another city or abroad?
Give each of them a copy of your pathology report and any gene result. Any doctor, anywhere, can use those to plan their screening. That one set of papers saves them from questions nobody in the family may be able to answer later.
Will this affect their insurance or marriage prospects?
Families in India often worry about this. A raised risk is not an illness, and being screened is a sign of good care. India has no specific law on genetic results and insurance, so it is a fair question to raise with a counsellor before any gene test.
Can CION help plan my children's screening?
Yes. A CION oncologist can review your reports, arrange MMR testing of your tumour if it has not been done, and refer you for genetic counselling. When your children's colonoscopy is due, it is arranged through accredited partner centres. One helpline serves every centre.
Your Specialists
Meet CION's colon cancer specialists. Bring your colonoscopy, scan or biopsy report.
Our surgical and medical oncologists plan colon cancer care together: which operation, whether chemotherapy is needed, and the follow-up that comes after.
Medical Oncologist
Dr. C. Raghavendra Reddy
MBBS(Gold Medal), DNB(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Gold Medal)
Medical Oncologist
Dr. Bharati Devi Gorantla
MBBS, MD(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Adyar,Chennai), ECMO, MRCP SCE(UK)
Medical Oncologist
Dr. Owais Mohammed
MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DrNB (Medical Oncology), ECMO, MRCP SCE (Medical Oncology) (UK)
Medical Oncologist
Medical Oncologist
Surgical Oncologist
Dr. Muralidhar Muddusetty
MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery) (AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh)
Surgical Oncologist
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Sources
- American Cancer Society — Colorectal Cancer Risk Factors
- American Cancer Society — Colorectal Cancer Guideline
- National Cancer Institute — Genetic Testing Fact Sheet
- NICE — Molecular testing strategies for Lynch syndrome in people with colorectal cancer
This page is general information, not a prescription. Do not change or stop any treatment based on what you read here. If anything is worrying you, contact your own treating team — or call our helpline and we will help you reach the right specialist.
Keep reading
Related pages
Screening for Siblings and ParentsWhat your brothers, sisters and parents needLynch Syndrome and Colon CancerThe commonest inherited cause, and what it means for childrenFamilial Adenomatous Polyposis and Colon CancerThe one condition where childhood checks matterTelling Your Family About Inherited Colon Cancer RiskHow to start the conversation with your children
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Not sure what your children will need?
Bring your pathology report and tell us about your family. We will explain what your children need now and later, and arrange any testing that would help. One helpline serves every CION centre.