Colon cancer: safety through colonoscopy

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MunichEvery ten years, people over 55 have the right to have a colonoscopy to prevent cancer. But most of them shy away from the procedure. Instead, they rely on tests that are designed to detect blood in the stool. The catch: these are very unreliable. Men in particular can feel in a dangerous sense of security because they are twice as likely to develop colon cancer than women.

False security due to inaccurate tests

Men with a negative stool test have even more colon cancer or colon cancer precursors than women with a positive test result, researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now found. “This is due to the higher disease rate among men and the inaccuracy of the test,” explains Hermann Brenner. It would therefore be logical to advise men to have a colonoscopy regardless of a stool test. For the study, the researchers evaluated data from 200,000 colonoscopies of patients between 55 and 74 years of age.

The Guaiac-based stool tests common in Germany are designed to detect blood in the stool. But this can only be found in some of the people who actually have a tumor. Many tumors often only bleed in late stages - and even then not always. As a result, the stool test only detects a minority of colon cancer cases. The test rarely detects colon cancer precursors.

Only every ten years to the doctor

A colonoscopy, on the other hand, has the advantage that non-bleeding tumors and tumor precursors are also found. In addition, the doctor can remove small ulcers and polyps immediately. And while a stool examination would have to be carried out at least once a year in order for it to have a certain informative value, you have ten years of rest after a colonoscopy. Brenner says: "Many doctors and patients are not aware of this." (Cf)

Source: DKFZ press release, www.dkfz.de

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