Word: colonics
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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That's the "when" part of the equation. Now for what you should do. There are three different ways to get screened for colon cancer. Which method you choose depends a lot on your wallet--and the level of risk you're willing to live with...
...least expensive method--because it's the one most often covered by insurance--make sure you get both parts: a stool test, which looks for the presence of hidden blood, and a flexible sigmoidoscopy, in which a lighted tube is inserted into the lower third of the colon. The stool test should be repeated annually, since only 1 out of 3 tumors bleeds enough to be picked up by the test and then usually only after it's grown in size. The "flex sig" should be performed every five years, provided there's no change in symptoms or family history...
...satisfied with checking out only part of your colon, you have two other options. Both require going on a liquid diet for 24 hours before the procedure and involve flushing the colon ahead of time. But they give more of the big picture...
...double-contrast barium enema, a technician coats the inside of the intestine with the metallic dye and pumps the colon full of air. Then an X ray of the large intestine is taken, allowing doctors to visualize the outline of most abnormal growths. Provided the colon is clear, a barium enema should be repeated every five to 10 years. Cost...
That is why some doctors and quite a few activists are lobbying to make colonoscopy the test of choice. They point to small studies of people with a genetic predisposition to colon cancer that show that snipping out polyps on a regular basis decreases chances of developing the disease. Dr. Sidney Winawer of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City is directing a larger study to see if that holds true for the general population...