40% Reduction in Colon Cancer Deaths Possible

In a study that involved 170,000 people in their fifties, conducted in the UK and led by Professor Wendy Atkin from Imperial College London, a five-minute examination of the colon could save thousands of lives.

The test know as the Flexi-Scope uses a sigmoid scope, a thin tube with a camera, that is inserted in the rectum and finds polyps which are removed by a inserted snipping tool. This procedure, which takes five minutes and is required only once in a lifetime, may reduce the 600,000 worldwide deaths each year from colon cancer by 40%.

The theory behind the test, results of which were published in Lancet, is that most people develop all the cancer-producing polyps in their lower bowel that they will ever produce by age 55. As this procedure examines only the lower bowel, where most cancers occur, tests such as the fecal-blood test are still recommended to examine the upper bowel for cancer.

The American Cancer Society recommends three types of colon cancer screening, the Flexi-Scope, a barium virtual colonoscopy and a colonoscopy.
The colonoscopy is the most widely used test in the United States even though some researchers insist that clinical trials have never shown it to be a good cancer-screening tool.

Research leader Atkin stated “No other bowel screening technique has ever been shown to prevent the disease.”

The British health care community, which does not usually screen people less than 60 years old for colon cancer, is being encouraged to adopt this procedure as the norm.