Instead of avoiding your colonoscopy because it sounds like a pain in the you-know-what, let’s get to the bottom of this common procedure that not only screens for but also can actually prevent colon cancer. Colonoscopies are almost always done on an outpatient basis, along with a sedative that relaxes the patient and leaves them with no memory of the procedure.
The actual procedure only takes about 30 minutes, followed by a little longer in recovery while the sedative wears off. If all is well, you shouldn’t need another screening for 10 years, unlike stool-based tests, which are only good for three years and cannot prevent colon cancer in the same way a colonoscopy can. Because of the sedative, you should plan to have someone to drive you home afterward.
You can also forget those stories you’ve heard, or maybe remember, about drinking a gallon of horrible-tasting prep mixture the night before. Today’s preps are more palatable and require much smaller volumes, along with your favorite clear liquids the day before. You may also be asked to stop taking blood-thinning medicines (including aspirin) or some other medicines for several days before the test.
During the colonoscopy, your doctor uses a thin, flexible tube with a very small light and camera at the end to look at the inside of the colon and rectum. Special instruments can be passed through the colonoscope to biopsy or remove any suspicious-looking areas such as polyps, if needed, which is why this type of screening can also be a preventative measure for some types of colorectal cancers. If left alone, polyps can turn into cancer down the road, but removing them during the screening prevents that from happening.
If your biggest fear is what comes after the colonoscopy – what the doctor finds – then there’s good news for you, too. Even though colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States for men and women combined, colonoscopies significantly increase the odds that these types of cancer can be identified early, when the cancer is often very curable. Improvements in treatment and increased screening have been steadily shrinking the death rate for colorectal cancer when it’s caught early, and the five-year survival rate for people with localized stage colorectal cancer is now about 91 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
Unfortunately, only about 37 percent of patients are diagnosed at this early stage. Another good piece of news, however, is that colon cancer typically progresses very slowly compared to other cancers, which is why a clean screening is good for a decade without other symptoms or issues.
If you have been sitting out on getting your regular colonoscopy, or are over 45 and haven’t scheduled one yet, you should consider talking to your doctor about rectifying this situation today.