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 »