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Is colonoscopy the gold standard for colorectal cancer screening?

The Claim: Colonoscopy is far and away the best way to screen for colorectal cancer.

The Background: ...Back then, the “Today” show said the procedure was “considered the most effective test for colon cancer.” Many screening messages, not to mention physicians, today implicitly send the same message: getting a colonoscopy every 10 years from ages 50 to 74 is the best way to prevent the cancer.

In contrast, a fecal test to screen for colon cancer has been largely sidelined. Guidelines released in 2008 by the American Cancer Society and other medical groups warned that fecal blood tests such as FIT (the fecal immunochemical test) — which detects invisible…

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Featured

 Do 45-Year-Olds Really Need Colon Cancer Screening?

A new recommendation says yes. The evidence is more complicated.

 The Crucial Test That Can Save Your Life

The New York Times may have called it "the most unloved cancer screening test," but colonoscopy can save lives, as new research demonstrates: The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), found that people who had adenomatous polyps identified and removed during a colonoscopy were 53 percent less likely to die from colorectal cancer than those who didn't have the test. That's strong evidence of what many doctors have long suspected: Colonoscopy is vitally important.

 Would You Let an Autonomous Colonoscopy Robot Inside Your Butt?

Robots have been designed to visit lots of far-out places, from the surface of Mars to the deep ocean. Now there's a robot that can take a trip through the human colon. It sounds like something out of "The Magic School Bus" or eighties classic "Innerspace," but the idea is that this pill-sized bot could perform colonoscopies and help screen for disease.

Articles of Interest

Famous Colonoscopy Quotes

Approximately 50 quotations are introduced for the first time, including more than 80% created by the author. These quotations, whether humorous or serious, provide insight into how gastroenterology nurses and gastroenterologists feel about themselves as professionals, how other healthcare professionals perceive them, and their image in popular culture.

5 Reasons Why Virtual Colonoscopies May Be Right For You

Anyone who has ever had a colonoscopy (and if you are over 50, we hope you just raised your hand), walks away from the experience wondering, “Why isn’t there a better way?” Well, it turns out there just may be, but some within the medical community at-large have been slow to embrace it for one reason, which we’ll tell you later.

Colonoscopies: America’s gold standard, while Canada says they’re not justified

Our national differences in screening recommendations aren’t a reflection of the amount of knowledge each country’s teams of screening experts have, but rather an array of scientific, economic and possibly cultural issues that lay behind those recommendations.

Colonoscopy at 40? Study finds a possible benefit

Nearly 15 percent of colorectal cancers are diagnosed in people under age 50, suggesting that it might be beneficial to begin regular screenings — including, perhaps, the dreaded colonoscopy — earlier than is customary

Colonoscopy is not a Dirty Word – Tips for the Prep

Oh, so you’re getting a colonoscopy? It’s not so bad. Whether it’s your first or your tenth, I think we can all agree that it’s better than uncontrollable bowels and never ending pain. At least you have an excuse to stay near the toilet. Here are some Colonoscopy Prep Tips.

Colonoscopy Prep Tips: What Doctors Tell Their Friends

The physicians of the hit TV show The Doctors share what they want you to know about when to get a colonoscopy and how to prep for it.

Colonoscopy: Only One Of These Tests May Be Necessary In A Lifetime, New Study Finds

Most guidelines recommend that people screen once ever 10 years for colorectal cancer starting at age 50 and up until they turn 70. But researchers have recently determined that some people only need to undergo one colonoscopy in their lifetime, though some in the medical community warn against taking this new finding any further than speculation.

Colorectal Cancer Screening Guidelines U.S.

Regular screening, beginning at age 50, is the key to preventing colorectal cancer. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening for colorectal cancer using high-sensitivity fecal occult blood testing, sigmoidoscopy, or colonoscopy beginning at age 50 years and continuing until age 75 years.

Dreading a Colonoscopy? Other Tests Are Just as Effective for Colon Cancer

Some medical experts are touting alternatives to colonoscopies as a way to improve screening rates for colorectal cancer. It might be time to knock the colonoscopy off its pedestal.

Giving Patients Choices in Colon Cancer Screening

A new study shows that patients are far less likely to undergo screening for colon cancer if their doctors recommend only colonoscopy, rather than offering other screening options.

How Not to Dread a Colonoscopy

When it comes to detecting and preventing colon cancer, no screening option is more effective than a colonoscopy. Follow these steps to lessen the anxiety and make your colonoscopy more comfortable.

I Need a What?

A colonoscopy. The scary "C" word. Something I've been putting off for a while. This is what you get for your birthday once you hit 50. "Hey, happy birthday! Here's your present -- a gift-wrapped colonoscopy!" Fortunately, they don't sell home kits for that sort of stuff, or else everyone would lie about their birthday and stay 49 forever.

Test Caught Up in Controversy

Know another potential victim in the public furor over reported unsafe health practices at several local endoscopy clinics? The colonoscopy, the procedure that 40,000 patients were undergoing when they may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis at a handful of outpatient surgical centers. In the wake of the revelations, valley physicians are hoping the crisis won't dissuade Southern Nevadans from undergoing the simple, painless, potentially life-saving procedure.

The Cancer Screening Test That’s Being Overused (And The One That’s Not Being Used Enough)

Physicians, insurance companies and the media may share responsibility for getting the word out about the most-recent cancer-screening guidelines, Paskett said. “We need to shift resources,” she said “And change the norm, so that there’s a positive view on the colonoscopy, comparable to what we have for mammography.”

Virtual Colonoscopy Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that everyone aged 50-75 be screened for colon cancer with any one of three options: colonoscopy every 10 years, flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years, or fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) every year.

Waking Up to Major Colonoscopy Bills

Patients who undergo colonoscopy usually receive anesthesia of some sort in order to “sleep” through the procedure. But as one Long Island couple discovered recently, it can be a very expensive nap.

What It's REALLY Like To Have A Colonoscopy

Through the years, I realized that although this procedure is vital, talk surrounding it is delicate because of disgust, as well as fear: fear of the prep, the procedure, and especially fear that someone might know that, *gasp*, you have a colon! In my attempt to break this stigma and make the colonoscopy seem like an approachable subject, I have decided to journal my road to the scope.

Why I Got My Colonoscopy--And You Should, Too

I have no family history of colon cancer, but I’ve learned that neither does 85% of the 137,000 Americans who are diagnosed with colon and rectal cancer this year, 50,000 of whom will die of the disease. Good health habits certainly minimize your risk, but not to zero: my journalist friend spent most of her life as a vegetarian and riding her bike everywhere, but still developed colorectal cancer.

Why I Won't Get a Colonoscopy

As for screening for colon cancer, a new study allegedly finds merit in colonoscopies, a nasty, expensive procedure in which a physician sticks a cable tipped with a camera and clippers up your butt and snips off suspicious-looking lumps on the wall of your bowels.

Resources

StopColonCancerNow.com

Colon cancer is both preventable and highly treatable when detected early. There are a number of screening options to check for colon cancer, but a colonoscopy is considered the gold standard.

Colon Cancer Alliance

You’ll often hear colonoscopies referred to as the ”Gold Standard” of screening. This is because they can both find potentially precancerous growths called polyps and remove them, while other screening tests may only find cancer or polyps. Since most cases of colon cancers start as polyps, colonoscopies essentially allow you to stop colon cancer before it even starts!

Colonoscopy.com

Colonoscopy.com was created to make it as easy as possible to find authoritative medical information and local doctors who practice gastroenterology. All of our information is reviewed by gastroenterology experts and users can ask medical questions directly to local doctors for free. Be sure to check out our Medical Board of Advisors.

American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Colonoscopy may be recommended as a screening test for colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Annually, approximately 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed in the United States and 50,000 people die from the disease. It has been estimated that increased awareness and screening would save at least 30,000 lives each year. Colonoscopy may also be recommended by your doctor to evaluate for symptoms such as bleeding and chronic diarrhea.

American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons

Colonoscopy is routinely recommended to adults 50 years of age or older as part of a colorectal cancer screening program. Patients with a family history of colon or rectal cancer may have their colonoscopy at age 40. Your physician may also recommend a colonoscopy exam if you have change in bowel habit or bleeding, indicating a possible problem in the colon or rectum.

Huff Post

One of the best sources for articles about colonoscopy.

MedicineNet

How often should one undergo colonoscopy depends on the degree of the risk and the abnormalities found at previous colonoscopies. One widely accepted recommendation has been that even healthy people at normal risk for colon cancer should undergo colonoscopy at age 50 and every 10 years thereafter, for the purpose of removing colonic polyps before they become cancerous.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Virtual colonoscopy and colonoscopy are different in several ways. Virtual colonoscopy is an X ray test, takes less time, and doesn’t require a doctor to insert a colonoscope into the entire length of your colon. However, virtual colonoscopy may not be as effective as colonoscopy at detecting certain polyps. Also, doctors cannot treat problems during virtual colonoscopy, while they can treat some problems during colonoscopy. Your health insurance coverage for virtual colonoscopy and colonoscopy may also be different.

Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons

Colonoscopy and biopsy are safe when performed by surgeons who have had special training and are experienced in these endoscopic procedures. Complications are rare, however, they can occur. They include bleeding from the site of a biopsy or polypectomy and a tear (perforation) through the lining of the bowel wall.

SurgerySquad

Help Dr. Jeff perform an interactive colonoscopy… Scrub in!