The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 60 percent of colorectal deaths may have been prevented with routine screening. The risk for developing this second-leading cause of cancer death increases after the fifth decade of life.
The CDC recommends a colonoscopy every 10 years starting at age 50. The test may also be indicated when symptoms of colon cancer are evident.
Colonoscopies involve a physician using a thin, flexible, lighted tube to check for pre-cancerous polyps inside the rectum or entire colon. During the outpatient procedure, the physician can often remove any polyps found within the colon. Symptoms of colorectal cancer may include blood in the stool during a bowel movement, stomach pain, aches and cramps that do not go away, and weight loss.
West Shore Medical Center offers colonoscopies and state-of-the-art laboratory services that are used to identify markers of the disease.
West Shore’s Laboratory can test for blood in the stools for patients whose physician ordered a high-sensitivity fecal occult blood test. This test involves taking a test kit home from one’s health care provider with instructions about how to obtain a small stool sample. The sample is then prepared and tested in the Laboratory.
Should a stool contain blood, a physician likely will order a colonoscopy.
Manistee region residents who have completed their fifth decade are encouraged to talk to their primary care physician about being screened for the disease or to call West Shore Medical Center General Surgery at (231) 398-1740.
03.13.2015
West Shore Medical Center offers important testing to prevent colon cancer