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If you simply can not bear the idea or the hbadle of a colonoscopy, there are other ways to check how your colon is doing. What you need to know, since colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of death among men and rates are increasing among younger men.
Doctors push you towards colonoscopies for good reason: it's not only the most effective way to detect polyps, but they can also be removed immediately. But, as you know, this requires a day of intestinal preparation (overflowing laxatives). all your doc.), and after the procedure of 30 to 60 minutes, some sedatives may take hours to fade. (Unless you get it without sedation, as this guy did.)
So, if you're one of the 33% of adult Americans who are unaware of your screening, "the best test is the one you experience," says David Greenwald, MD, director of Clinical Gastroenterology and Clinical Gastroenterology. endoscopy at Mount Sinai. Hospital in New York. Healthy guys should start regular screening at age 45, according to the American Cancer Society; People at higher risk, including those with a strong family history of colorectal cancer, should talk to their doctor about the start of their treatment.
All these alternatives to colonoscopy include a warning: if any of them prove positive, you will still need a colonoscopy to remove the polyps. So, for a unilateral approach, opt for colonoscopy. But these options can always give you useful information:
IN SHAPE
The fecal immunochemical test detects traces of blood in your poop – once you have soiled that poo on the card provided in the box.
Advantages: Buy the kits at the pharmacy (between $ 15 and $ 30, or buy them at your doctor's), take this test at home, you will get the results in a few minutes. (Make sure the fIT or fecal immunochemical test is indicated: it is more accurate than the fecal occult blood test at home.)
The inconvenients: It can miss polyps and cancer, and you have to do it every year.
Best if: There is no way – even with all the little things in the world – to go to the doctor for a colonoscopy.
FIT-Fecal DNA (Cologuard)
Another home sampling situation, this test detects blood traces and also performs a DNA badysis to see if any abnormal cells that may indicate cancer have been poured into your garbage.
Advantages: More accurate than FIT.
The inconvenients: Cologuard is better at detecting cancer than polyps, says Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, MD, badociate professor in clinical cancer prevention at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Why it's not good: you want to find and delete polyps before they turn into cancer. Plus, you can not buy this test directly. Your doctor should get you a prescription, then you must send your samples to a lab and wait for him to call you with the results.
Best if: You are ready to at least call a doctor to get it.
Blood test Septin 9
This blood test has recently been approved by the FDA – a laboratory can test your blood for markers of this cancer from the same blood sample used for your usual laboratory tests (cholesterol, for example).
Advantages: Nothing to dirty, so a factor of reduction of the value
The inconvenients: It's a big problem: it's not so precise. Some docs say that all Test is better than nothing, but most do not rush to give you this one.
A high-tech test, but rarely used
CT colonography
A doctor inflates your colon with air and then performs a pelvis scan and abdomen. 3D images reveal polyps and other anomalies.
Advantages: Since there is no sedation, you can return to the office once the test is complete.
The inconvenients: You need a preparation, radiation exposure is never great, and it is possible to confuse poop points with polyps, which leads to a false positive.
Best if: Your doctor has not been able to perform a traditional colonoscopy due to anatomical changes in your anatomy that have blocked the scope (scanner colography is not usually the first test proposed).
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