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A colonoscopy is the best screening test available for colon cancer. For the average person, the American Cancer Society recommends starting a screening program around age 45.
Colonoscopies in La Grange, Kentucky
Baptist Health La Grange. January 28, 2020
Colon screenings are crucial for detecting cancer and ensuring overall health. Learn more about the importance of colonoscopies today at Baptist Health.
Stephen Overstreet, MD, Gastroenterology:
Colonoscopy is very effective. It prevents more than 90% of colon cancers when we get a chance to find the cancer in a benign growth before it even starts.
Both men and women are at equal risk of colon cancer. We like to screen everyone at 45, up until the age of 85. Though people have great concern over preparing the colon for their colonoscopies, it is the most important part. What an adequate preparation of the colon provides you with is an excellent exam visually, to be able to detect the smallest, even 2-millimeter, polyps that can then be removed to prevent you from having colon cancer.
How I like to encourage my patients who have some anxiety over having their colonoscopy is that the preoperative preparation of your colon is actually very simple, if you adhere to the instructions you are given. My recommendation is to remain as hydrated as possible. I think you’ll find that it goes much smoother than you would imagine. The procedure itself is sedated. Patients tend to wake up feeling as if they’ve had a very nice nap.
On the day of your procedure, your physician should talk to you about the immediate result. If polyps were removed, you will be told that day and then you’ll be called to be informed of the results of your polyps and the recommendations on when a repeat exam would be recommended. With respect to colorectal cancer, this is an easy thing to do to save lives. Our removing polyps is the best work I do.