Mesothelioma | Mesothelioma

The best defense: a screening colonoscopy.

The ACS recommends that persons of average risk have colon cancer screening beginning at age 50.

A colonoscopy is an exam that allows a doctor to inspect the inside of the entire colon for signs of cancer or polyps.

Physicians at the Pinehurst Medical Clinic Endoscopy Center perform colonoscopies.

During the exam, they use a slender, flexible tube with a light and tiny camera that transmits the image to a television monitor.

This helps the physician locate any sign of cancer or polyps as he/she scopes.

When a polyp is found, it is usually removed right then by a painless snare and sent to pathology.

“With a colonoscopy, we are preventing cancer whereas most every other screening we have, can only pick up the early signs,” says Dr.

Thomas Swantkowski, senior gastroenterologist at Pinehurst Medical Clinic (PMC).

“Chest X-rays show us signs of The theory is, if you get it early it can be treatable.

But only the colonoscopy allows us to remove the potential cancerous growth at the moment of detection.” Colon cancer almost always starts with a polyp, a small growth on the lining of the colon.

Removing the polyp means it cannot develop into cancer.

Swantkowski says other screening tests like stool home tests and sigmoidoscopy ar...

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