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Aurora Medical CenterGI servicesColorectal cancer screenings make a lifesaving differenceThis year, more than 130,000 Americans will learn they have colon or rectal cancer. In fact, according to local gastroenterologist Nimish Vakil, MD, the average lifetime risk of getting colorectal cancer is 6%. Your chances of being diagnosed with the disease are even higher if you have a family history of it. “If your parents, siblings or children have had colon cancer, you have a two- to three-fold increased risk,” explains Dr. Vakil. In other words, multiply that 6 percent average risk by two or three. If the same relative was diagnosed under the age of 50, or if you have two such first-degree relatives with the disease, your risk level increases three- to four-fold. That means your chances of someday developing colon cancer yourself are 18-24 percent. (See table below) While no one wants to be in a higher risk category for cancer, the good news about knowing your risk is that you can take definite steps to prevent the disease. At the very least, you can give doctors a chance to catch it at the earliest, most curable stage. With early diagnosis and treatment, colorectal cancer has a five-year survival rate of about 90%. Screening for colorectal cancer is divided into guidelines for people who are at average risk and those who are at markedly increased risk. Depending on your age and risk, screening recommendations may include a digital rectal exam, a fecal occult blood test and flexible sigmoidoscopy. The most advanced and by far the best screening for colorectal cancer, however, is a colonoscopy, says Dr. Vakil. With this medical procedure, doctors can reveal and remove abnormal growths along the colon called “polyps,” which can become cancerous. Without polyps, there can be no cancer. “In fact,” says Dr. Vakil, “around 80-90 percent of colorectal cancer cases are totally preventable.” Colonoscopies are performed by gastroenterology (GI) specialists. During the procedure, the physician uses a long, flexible lighted tube to look inside the entire intestine. If anything abnormal is seen, like a polyp, the physician can remove all or part of it using tiny instruments passed through the scope. The procedure takes less than an hour, and patients are under “conscious sedation,” an altered state of consciousness that eliminates pain and discomfort. While any type of colorectal cancer screening is better than doing nothing, today's “best practice” medical guidelines recommend colonoscopy for all people over age 50, says Dr. Vakil. Those with higher risk factors should have them earlier and more often, he adds. It's also important to note that “virtual colonoscopy,” an exciting CT scanning technology, does not yet offer the option of simultaneous therapeutic treatment – the removal of polyps or other suspicious tissue in the same procedure. If something is detected during a virtual colonoscopy, the patient will still need to undergo a scope procedure – an expensive proposition considering that virtual colonoscopies are not often covered by traditional insurance plans. To better understand your risk of colorectal cancer, talk to other members of your family, then have a discussion with your primary care doctor. Since symptoms of colorectal cancer often aren't obvious, information and prevention are your best weapons. Dr. Vakil has a patient practice at the Aurora Health Center in Slinger and performs colonoscopies at the Aurora Medical Center in Hartford. For an appointment, please call 262-644-2900. Know your family history of colorectal cancer
* 1st degree relative: Parents, siblings, children ** 2nd degree relative: Grandparents, aunts, uncles *** 3rd degree relative: Great grandparents, cousins
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