Colon Cancer Awareness Month: Early Colorectal Cancer Screening Can Save Lives

Doctors have claimed, many of the deaths caused specifically by colorectal cancers may have been prevented if caught early through a screening via colonoscopy.

According to a FOX 25 report, Colorectal cancer is not the most popular among all cancers, although it is one of the deadliest. The said report also said colorectal cancers could form as a hidden or invisible time-bomb in nearly anyone.

Oklahoma City-based-Digestive Disease Specialists' Dr. Clinton Wallis said that the vast majority of colon cancers could be prevented if diagnosed early.

Dr. Wallis added, these things begin early. There are indeed totally no symptoms, and one would not know, or one would not have any tendency to know that there was a tumor that's growing until it is really detected in advance.

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The 2^nd Deadliest Cancer

According to the National Cancer Institute, colorectal cancers accounted for the fourth-most approximated diagnosed cancers last year. Nevertheless, they were also the second deadliest cancers, killing an approximated 53,000 Americans in 2020.

But as mentioned, the said figure has brought doctors to their first, and perhaps, the biggest obstacle in the fight against colorectal cancers-the colonoscopy.

Both Dr. Wallis and Integris' Dr. Johnny McMinn said the colonoscopy is the screening procedures' 'gold standard.'

However, it is a process that is quite a challenge to get people to go through. A lot of prep work is needed. For instance, patients need to be sedated, and such a procedure is said to be invasive.

Dr. McMinn, a medical oncologist said, it is easy for a person to come in when feeling sick. The patient is given medicine and ends up feeling better.

However, said the medical expert, a specialist would momentarily make a person feel worse by doing the colonoscopy procedure. And so, it is just what Dr. McMinn described as a "hard sell" for people who are feeling normal.

Colonoscopy as the Best Option

The doctors have emphasized, though, that colonoscopy remains the best choice. If something has been detected with other screening methods, one will have to undergo a colonoscopy anyway.

With this procedure, doctors are saying that if they detect polyps, most of them can be eliminated then and there.

They cite advancements as well in terms of preparation stages, and if the test comes out with an all-clear result, medical experts say, one is good for about a decade.

However, the most major reason is determining exactly what's happening, as the key to combating colon cancers is spotting and diagnosing them early. When such cancers are caught in advance, Dr. Wallis said, surgery becomes a cure.

Nonetheless, the doctors claim roughly 35 percent of adults still are not getting their colonoscopies by age 50, which can have fatal consequences.

Recommended at an Early Age

Instead of stage 1 or 2 colon cancer, carrying quite a good prognosis, Dr. McMinn said, it could be an advanced stage 3 or 4. And in those particular patients, the cure rate is not quite good.

Additionally, doctors are currently beginning to recommend colonoscopy procedures at an early age. It occurs as Dr. Wally explains, upwards of around 3,600 cases of colorectal cancers were detected in people below 45 years of age in the past year.

At present, the American Cancer Society asks patients to have their first colonoscopy at 45 years of age. However, if colon cancers are running in the family, that is possible to occur sooner or later.

According to doctors, they have prescribed colonoscopies for patients in their 30s and even 20s if they have a history of the disease in the family.

Because, again, if detected early, doctors are saying colorectal cancers are exceptionally curable. They just need to be screened early.

Sutter Health's YouTube video below shows what's happening during a colonoscopy procedure: