One flexible sigmoidoscopy screening between the ages of 55 and 64 reduced both colorectal cancer diagnoses and deaths during a randomized clinical trial in the United Kingdom.

After following 170,000 people for more than 11 years, deaths from colorectal cancer were 43 percent lower among those who had a flexible sigmoidoscopy screening.  Diagnosis of colorectal cancer was reduced by 33 percent.

This is the first prospective clinical trial that actually proved that examining the rectum and colon with a scope could reduce colorectal cancer deaths. Read the rest of this entry »

First results from the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in the United Kingdom found significantly more colorectal cancers in early, curable stages than in the years before the program began.

Nearly half of the cancers found during screening were stage I (Dukes A), while previously only 1 in 10 were diagnosed at that earliest stage.

However, in another analysis of the pilot NHS NBCSP efforts, a significant percentage of patients who had cancer found on screening, believed to be without symptoms of colon or rectal cancer, recognized and reported symptoms when asked before their follow-up colonoscopies. Read the rest of this entry »

African Americans get more colorectal cancer than whites and die more often.

Whether this is because of different biology or lack of access to high-quality medical care has long been debated.

In a new study, blacks had very similar rates of polyps found during a screening flexible sigmoidoscopy.  But they were less likely to get a recommended follow-up colonoscopy.

While about 1 in 4 people had polyps discovered during their sigmoidoscopy, nearly identical percentages for blacks and whites, blacks got colonoscopy follow-up about 12 percent less often than whites. Read the rest of this entry »

Click on Peter's face to hear the song.

Listen to folk singer Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul & Mary, sing the Colonoscopy Song.

Yarrow and CBS teamed up to deliver the message that getting a regular colonoscopy saves lives.

Although they “found a polyp hiding, they caught it just in time.”

Catch a Killer: Get Screened for Colon Cancer reminds African Americans to be screened for colorectal cancer.

CSI:NY actor Hill Harper urges screening for colorectal cancer in a new PSA from the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).

Guidelines suggest that those at average risk begin screening at age 50, however, some studies have shown that African-Americans are more frequently diagnosed with colon cancer at a younger age, leading some experts to suggest that African-Americans should begin screening at age 45.