Every year, 4,600 people are diagnosed with colon cancer, and around 2,000 people die from it. Many of these deaths could be avoided through preventive examinations such as colonoscopy, warn experts such as Claudia Westreicher, Vice President of the Medical Association for Upper Austria (ÄKOÖ) and general practitioner.
In the world‘s most comprehensive study on the ideal interval for such examinations – normally every ten years – German physicians have now shown that, especially in women under the age of 60, a repeat would only be safe after a longer period of time. “In any case, the recommended examination interval could be adapted to the personal risk,” says study author Thomas Heisser, epidemiologist at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg.
Polyps as “harbingers”
However, the fact is: From the age of 45, the probability of falling ill increases rapidly, as stated in a broadcast by the Medical Association. Cancer Aid therefore recommends the first screening colonoscopy from the age of 45. “About 25 percent of people over the age of 50 have colon polyps. 40 percent become malignant or are already malignant at the time of discovery, i.e. carcinomas,” explains the Viennese surgeon and colonoscopy specialist Friedrich Weiser.
Colon cancer (cancer of the colon or rectum) develops quite slowly and usually builds up over many years, says Claudia Westreicher. “The insidious thing is that you don’t notice the disease at first because it’s asymptomatic.”
However, by the time colon cancer is discovered, it is usually well advanced. “You can avoid that. After all, in 90 percent of cases, intestinal polyps precede the cancer. These can be found and removed with a preventive check-up. “Colon cancer is curable to a very high percentage if it is detected in time,” says Claudia Westreicher.
Since the preventive care offer is accepted far too seldom – in Austria, unlike in Germany, there is still no organized colorectal cancer early detection program – almost every second patient dies of colorectal cancer. “Therefore, go to your family doctor and register for a preventive check-up – possibly in March, which is entirely devoted to intestinal preventive care.”
Valerie Hader
