Colonoscopy
Colonoscopy is a test that allows your doctor to look at the inner lining of your large intestine (rectum and colon) to help find ulcers, colon polyps, tumors and areas of inflammation or bleeding. Colonoscopy can also be used as a screening test to check for cancer or precancerous growths in the colon or rectum (polyps).
The colonoscope is a thin, flexible tube with a small video camera attached so that your doctor can take pictures or video of the large intestine (colon). The colonoscope can be used to look at the whole colon and the lower part of the small intestine. During a colonoscopy, the doctor may remove tissue and/or polyps for further examination and possibly treat any problems that are discovered.
Colon Cancer: Earlier Screening Advised
Earlier this year, the American Cancer Society (ACS) issued new screening guidelines, making a qualified recommendation that routine colon cancer screening begin at age 45 years. The ACS estimates that more than 18,000 new cases of colon or rectal cancers will be diagnosed this year in Americans under 50. Some people are at higher risk and should be screened earlier, including personal or family history of inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer or polyps, or ovarian, endometrial or breast cancer.
Most people don't realize that colon cancer is a totally preventable cancer. It develops from a benign polyp that over the course of a number of years becomes the carcinoma, which is the cancer. So, there is time to detect the polyps and remove them before they become cancer. In essence, you can prevent colon cancer if people get the colonoscopy on time and follow through with continued screening.
ACS recommends those tests that actually examine the interior of the colon because they cannot only detect cancer, but also prevent it by finding – and removing – polyps or growths that can potentially cause cancer. These tests include a flexible sigmoidoscopy (every five years), a colonoscopy (every 10 years), a CT colonography or virtual colonoscopy (every five years). Polyps found during these tests can be removed on the spot, simply and painlessly.
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