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The Infamous Colonoscopy: It’s Not Scary
How can we protect our digestive health?
There are several screening tools to monitor colon health. Depending on age, risk factors, family history and symptoms, your doctor will help you decide which test best meets your needs. The most comprehensive and well-known exam is the colonoscopy. Colonoscopies save lives by helping doctors find polyps or cancer before a patient ever displays symptoms. Yet, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, only 1 in 3 adults who should be screened for colon health are actually undergoing the procedure. So why are so many people avoiding a potentially lifesaving test?
Some avoid screening because of concerns about health care coverage, but under the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans that started on or after September 23, 2010 are required to cover screening colonoscopies as a preventative measure for average risk populations. Other people avoid the screening because they are fearful of the test itself, or the test preparation. However, both preparation and screening methods are constantly being improved to make it easier on patients. Also, as colonoscopies are performed under sedation, patients do not remember the procedure itself. Most of the concern centers on preparing for the test. There are several methods, and your doctor will help you decide which is right for you.
Colonoscopies are effective because they can detect cancer early—when treatment is most effective—or find growths (polyps) inside the colon and remove them. Since colon polyps are growths which may turn into colon cancer over time, it is considered good medical practice to remove them as soon as possible. While not every colon polyp turns to cancer, it is difficult to know which ones will, and almost all colon cancer begins as a small, non-cancerous polyp. If a polyp is large enough, tissue samples can be taken and sent for biopsy to determine the exact type of polyp.
Who should be screened?
For most adults, screening should begin at age 50 and be completed once every 10 years thereafter if the exam is normal. Individual risk factors like family history, ethnicity, GI conditions and lifestyle may require earlier screening. For example, if there is a previous history of colon cancer in the family, you may be advised to have your first screening 10 years prior to the age at which that relative developed colon cancer.
Emily Solow, DO, is a general surgeon with Susquehanna Health General Surgery. For more information on scheduling a colonoscopy, call (570) 723-0716 or visit susquehannahealth.org/digestive-health.
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Writing: N/A
Produced by Vogt Media