There is a new way to check for *colon cancer and a **colonoscopy is proving to be more successful than ***sigmoidoscopy. Now the full colon is being checked rather than just a section. It could also be possible to verify the causes of tumours and according to Andrew Chan Massachusetts General HMS associate professor, there is prove that colonoscopy is best even if it is not perfect.
Both procedures enable a camera to film the surface of the colon, but the colonoscopy reaches much more. At-risk individuals are advised to be checked every five via sigmoidoscopy or 10 years via colonoscopy once they are over 50.
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There is proof that sigmoidoscopy cuts down on deaths from colorectal cancer and yet more tests are being carried out to determine which is the most effective procedure. 89,000 took part in research and then a follow-up study from 1988 to 2008. They reported on the type of procedure and the reason for it, and if they got cancer, their reports were reviewed.
The results showed that a sigmoidoscopy only cut out the risk of dying from tumours on the left side and yet a colonoscopy reduced the risk of colorectal cancer deaths from tumours anywhere in the colon.
There could be 15 years’ cancer free after a negative colonoscopy and even of polyps had been discovered it could be five years. When there was cancer detected in a shorter timescale, it tended to be a sessile serrated adenoma that was involved and this is hard to detect.
*Colorectal Cancer ( Colon Cancer ) is cancer that starts in the colon or rectum. The colon and the rectum are parts of the large intestine, which is the lower part of the body’s digestive system.
**Colonoscopy is a procedure in which a trained specialist uses a long, flexible, narrow tube with a light and tiny camera on one end, called a colonoscope or scope, to look inside your rectum and colon. Colonoscopy can show irritated and swollen tissue, ulcers, polyps, and cancer.
***Sigmoidoscopy is a procedure by which a doctor inserts either a short and rigid or slightly longer and flexible fiber-optic tube into the rectum to examine the lower portion of the large intestine (or bowel). Sigmoidoscopy is used most often in screening for colorectal cancer or to determine the cause of rectal bleeding.
Original Story; Harvard Medical School
