Screening for colorectal (colon) cancer can be a bit, ahem, invasive, but early detection makes this form of cancer the most preventable of all the cancers. Yet, according to a new study, colon cancer is screened for the least.
A study released earlier this month from the CDC found that Americans aren't getting the recommended screenings for breast, cervical and colon cancers, with only 2 in 5 adults reporting they adhere to colon cancer screening.
This statistic is most alarming for Black Americans, who have the highest incidence rate of colorectal cancer among any other ethnic or racial group in the U.S. Our death rates from colorectal cancer are also the highest, according to the Prevent Cancer Foundation.When it comes to colon cancer, reasons for low screening rates are varied and multi-layered. In addition to lack of education, "fear of the procedure and the fear of what might be found, I think those are some of the major obstacles that we encounter in terms of getting people to do this," said Dr. Strick Woods, a Connecticut based gastrointerologist.
The gold standard for screening is still the colonoscopy - a procedure where a thin tube with a small camera is inserted through the anus and into the rectum and colon. True, this doesn't sound like something most would want to volunteer for, but Dr. Woods reports that screening has reduced colorectal cancer mortality by almost 60 percent.
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"The screening is to identify patients at average risk and start screening before they have any symptoms."
Alternative to the colonoscopy
But, what if it were easier to be screened for colon cancer, would more people do it? That's the hope behind a new at-home screening kit, Cologuard. Cologuard is a stool test and is the only one that tests for DNA markers and blood.
"Cancer of the colon begins as a small growth, so if you can identify that growth early and remove it, and then thereafter determine what the screening sequence should be for that individual, the impact upon their longevity is tremendous," says Dr. Woods.
With the Cologuard kit - which must be ordered by a person's doctor - a stool sample can be collected at home, overnighted to a lab for testing, with the results going back to the ordering doctor. "If it's a positive test, they will then warrant a colonoscopy. A negative test, they then have the option to follow up with another Cologuard test in the ensuing years."Currently, the recommendation for Cologuard testing is every 3 years.
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The kit is indicated to screen adult men and women, 50 years or older, who are at typical average-risk for colorectal cancer.
At the end of the day, there's no way to get around the necessity of being screened for colorectal cancer. Cologuard provides another option that the nearly 30 million unscreened adults may find easier to handle.
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