Screenings to Detect Colon Cancer: Colonoscopy or At-home Test, Which is Better?
Colon cancer is the third most common cancer among Americans. According to the American Cancer Society, One in 22 men and one in 24 women is diagnosed with colon cancer. It is also true that colon cancer can be prevented very easily because it takes almost up to 10 years to form cancer from a polyp.
What is Colon Cancer?
This type of cancer starts in the lower portion of your digestive systems such as the colon or rectum.
The Tests
With the development of medical science, checking whether you have colon cancer or not has become an easier process. There are two options available. One is colonoscopy screening and another one is an at-home test. Colonoscopy is the process where doctors visualize the lumen of the bowel. If doctors find any type of polyps, they remove those. There are few shortcomings of colonoscopy. The disadvantages are,
Aggressive bowel preparation is required in that process so that the doctors visualize the bowel properly.
Colonoscopy is expensive and time-consuming.
However, it is one of the most authentic ways to detect your colon cancer without any doubt.
Other Ways to Detect the Disease
According to the researchers, stool sample test is also effective like colonoscopy to detect colorectal cancer. Colonoscopies are the ideal standard but if you test your stool sample every year, it is also effective like a colonoscopy that is done every 10 years. An at-home test is very affordable, time-saving and saves cost. There are many people who cannot take the opportunity of doing colonoscopy tests due to various reasons.An at-home test is very suitable for those people.
There are various types of stool sample tests available in the market apart from colonoscopy tests. The stool sample tests include fecal tests, guaiac tests that are done to see if there is any blood in the stool sample. There is another at-home test, named “Cologuard”. This type of test looks if there is any change in the DNA in the stool. People can use these types of tests in-home and bring the stool sample into a lab for analysis.
Colonoscopy detects cancer and large polyps almost 95 percent and fecal tests detect cancer and polyps about 75 to 80 percent of the time.
Colonoscopy tests are an all-time better option but the stool same tests are also good because people are able to do the tests at home and it is affordable. Hence the percentage of people who have tasted at-home kits to see if they have colon cancer or not will increase in the future.
Why Choosing Colonoscopy Is Essential?
According to the experts, at-home tests may have a risk of false-positive tests or false-negative tests compared to colonoscopies.
Experts recommend that both men and women should do colonoscopy screening at age of 50 because they have an average risk of having colorectal cancer. According to the Colon Cancer Alliance Report, individuals who have a family history of colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease, or ulcerative colitis, obesity, excessive alcohol and cigarette smoking and diabetes should do colonoscopy screenings or any other at-home tests.
Call for Professionals
If you face any problems such as constipation, diarrhoea, bleeding from the rectum, abdominal pain and excessive gas, feel free to contact Screen The City in Oklahoma City. You can set up a screening test with us and our team of specialists take care of the rest with ease.
**Disclaimer: This blog content does not intend to offer a doctor’s advice and mentions no relationship between any patient and the care provider.
