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I think colonoscopy is the best screening test available. I think it's better than any
other screening test because of its ability to actually prevent somebody from getting
a cancer, and we can remove polyps during the procedure. Most colon cancers start in
a little polyp and grow into a cancer, so we want to remove any polyps that would be
present.
Other methods of colon screening can be a fecal occult blood testing where you use a
card and you put a little stool on there and see if there's any blood in there. It's very
sensitive, and many times they will be positive if there is nothing there. There is a newer
test called Cologard that looks at genetics of cells inside the stool. The downside of
Cologard is, according to their own website, 8% of colon cancers will be missed. So the
sensitivity is just not adequate. It is not up to par with the gold standard of colonoscopy.
I think that at Sauk Prairie Healthcare, we've been very active in bringing in the newest
technologies and techniques in surgery. The day before we start a bowel prep…and we
like to do a split prep here where you drink a liter of solution the day before, and then
the morning of your procedure you drink one more liter. This will clean out your colon
so that we can see all the surfaces and find any polyps that would be present. And then
you come in on the day of the colonoscopy, and a nurse anesthetist will make you very
sleepy so you won't remember the procedure and you will not have any discomfort at all.
While you're asleep, we use a colonoscope, and we pass it all the way through the colon,
and then we can look at all the surface of the colon and see if there's any polyps or
any other abnormalities. If there is a polyp, I can remove it right at that time, and then
we'd send it to Pathology and determine what kind of polyp this is and your risk for developing
a cancer in the future.
On an average risk person with no family history and no other problems, you should start doing
colonoscopies at age 50. And if they're normal or we find very simple polyps, then it can
be done every 10 years. I think people are concerned about doing a bowel prep. And I
do think that they're embarrassed that we're gonna see their backside or something like
that, so they don't want to come in. And it's much easier to undergo a colonoscopy than
to deal with colon cancer for sure.