Wellness Wednesday is sponsored by Intermountain Health
It’s March, and that means spring…and National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
Dr. Priyanka Patel, a gastroenterologist with Intermountain Health said, “The colon involves your large bowel, and that’s the majority of your colon, and then the rectum is that last few inches where you evacuate your bowels.
So why is it important to schedule your colonoscopy?
The American Cancer Society tells us 153,000 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer last year – and more than 53,000 died from the disease, making it the third leading cause of cancer related deaths.
Dr. Patel said men and women older than 45 should schedule a colonoscopy before experiencing any symptoms.
Patel said, “If we detect colon cancer early and it’s in the early stage, the five-year survival rate is over 90 percent, so that’s why it’s important to get on top of your screening and keep up with it.”
If you don’t catch colon cancer early, “As it progresses the cancer can invade against the wall of the colon and go into your lymphatic system and also go to your liver and various other organs,” said Patel.
You may be wondering what colon cancer symptoms look like, especially if you are younger since 11 percent of colon cancer and 15 percent of colon cancer diagnoses happen in people younger than 50.
Patel said, “Some of the signs you want to look for are fatigue, unintentional weight loss, rectal bleeding is a big one, or low blood counts, which is anemia. Those are the top main symptoms to look for if you don’t have a family history and you don’t have a genetic mutation, but you are having these signs and symptoms, then it’s good to get seen by a gastroenterologist to see if you do need a colonoscopy sooner than age 45.”
To schedule a colonoscopy, or to find a physician visit IntermountainHealthcare.org/colonoscopy
