Colon Cancer is Preventable - Book Your Screening Today
March is Colorectal Awareness Month. INTEGRIS Health would like to take this opportunity to remind all of our caregivers to schedule their outstanding tests. Watch Colorectal Surgeon V. Karlos Arcos, M.D., with INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center, discuss the importance of early screening and detection of colorectal cancer.
Learn more: https://integrisok.com/colorectal-cancer
Early detection and colorectal cancer is extremely important. And as one of the more treatable and curable forms of cancer screening recommendations for asymptomatic patients. So without a family history of colon or rectal cancer is currently 45 years old. That was recently decreased from the classic 50-year-old age. Most people are kind of afraid or hesitant or reluctant to undergo colonoscopy. But I would say overwhelming majority of patients who wake up after the colonoscopy are surprised. And the first thing out of their mouth is, oh, hey, it's over the a snap of the fingers and the procedure is done for the patient. In general, colonoscopy would last about 20 to 30 minutes. Best case scenario, if there are no polyps or abnormalities, it would be 10 years for your next screening colonoscopy. As long as you remain asymptomatic and you have no family history of colon and rectal cancer. Those who do have a positive family history of colon and rectal cancer. Again, depending on which relatives and the age of onset can certainly impact the frequency of colonoscopy. And then if you do undergo a colonoscopy and are found to have polyps, there's various interval recommendations, depending on how many polyps are identified, what type of polyps are identified, and the size and the method at which they were removed. So it really is a case by case individualized recommendation.