Cancer and Colonoscopy. ?

Question

Am I correct with the sense that Doctors are pushing excessively for colonoscopy tests and at the same time do not pay enough attention to other potential cancers and heart disease wich may be more common?

Answer 1

No. Considerable statistical analysis has gone into the recommendations. Colon cancer is one of the most frequent killers, right up there with lung and breast cancer. Except smoking cessation, there isn't much to be done to alter lung cancer rates, and women do get their exams and mammograms. The same can't be said for colonoscopy. And it's hard to say heart disease is being given short shrift: you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a blood pressure/cholesterol ad.

Answer 2

No.  A colonoscopy saved my father's life.  I think that says it all.

Answer 3

eat right and you wont have to worry, the chemicals they put in 99.9% of the food these days is what is causing it.

Answer 4

If you detect colon cancer early it has essentially a near-perfect cure rate with little side effects or complications. If you don't detect colon cancer early it rapidly because an excruciatingly painful certain death. And colon cancer is a big one. A colonoscopy is a simple, dirt cheap easy test they can do with no major problems associated with it that detects essentially all colon cancer.

There are very few other cancers that are widespread in the population - prostate and breast are the big ones. Prostate you can screen for with a blood test. Breast, well, women get mammograms and are told to do self-examinations frequently. Lung cancer you can't easily screen for, and detecting it doesn't do you a h**l of a lot of good - it's god a wretched survival rate either way. Most other cancers are too rare to screen the general population for.

And dear god I can't think of a single thing that gets more attention than heart disease (and blood pressure). But those two are also easy to screen for - cholesterol level, age and weight determine heart disease.

Answer 5

that's not true. but you need to have tests by cancer doctor it helps and keeps you out of the problem area if you smoke go get checked and carry on.

Answer 6

Depends on the frequency of the tests. I had a colonoscopy slightly over three years ago. Got a call last month that I should have another one because over three years ago during an exam, a polyp had been removed. This time, there were no polyps, and the doctor said, I'll see you again in three to five years.

Answer 7

I don't think so. Colon cancer is more detectable, common and curable. The others are harder to detect in early stages. It's really a matter of what diseases become preventable sooner. That's really where modern medicine becomes very useful.

Answer 8

Breast cancer seems to be pushed a lot too.  I think they are most curable if caught early.  Sometimes other cancers have really no signs until it has fully attacked the body.

Who knows maybe the Dr.'s get a kick back for referrals.  

Answer 9

Colon Cancer is more likely to kill you that most other cancer except melanoma or lymphatic cancer; since the new colonoscopy tests are much more effective and are still new they are trying to catch any cancer that might have been missed by the older sigmoidoscopy test you may nhave had in the past.

I had my colonoscopy this past year 5 years after my last sid test and again I passed with flying colors.

Be glad the test is here so you can be around to die from something else.

Quit your belly aching; life is better now than ever before in the history of mankind.