Once you reach 50, you’ll need to begin thinking about colon cancer screening procedures. Each year, Americans are encouraged to take a fecal occult blood test or give a DNA test stool sample. Every ten years a colonoscopy or virtual colonoscopy should be done. Every five years a barium enema and/or sigmoidoscopy should be done to detect any abnormalities. While it may seem excessive, the survival rate for early stage colon cancer is 93 to 100%, compared to later stages, which have survival rates as low as 40 or even 8 percent.
To prepare for a virtual colonoscopy, you will need to complete a bowel prep, just like with a normal colonoscopy prep. You will need to empty all solid waste materials from your gastrointestinal tract by sticking to a clear liquid diet for 1 to 3 days before the procedure. This means you may only consume fat-free broth, strained fruit juice, water, coffee, tea, Gatorade and Jell-O. The night before your colonoscopy screening, you will take a laxative (in pill or powder format) to loosen your stools and increase the frequency of your bowel movement until everything has been cleared from your system. Just before the exam, you’ll drink a contrast liquid, which will make your large intestine appear very bright during the scan so abnormal cells will stand out better.
During the virtual colonoscopy, you’ll be positioned on the CT examination table, usually lying flat on your back. During a CT scan, a thin tube is then placed into the anus and rectum. Gas will be pumped through the tube to expand the large intestine for a clearer picture. For an MRI scan, contrast media will be administered rectally to expand the large intestine. The computer will then take images of the large intestine/colon, as patients are asked to hold their breath for about fifteen seconds to steady the images. A second pass is done after patients roll over onto their stomachs. Once the scan is done, the tube is removed and the patient is free to leave. The whole procedure only takes 15 minutes and doctors can read the results within 30 minutes.
Dr. Perry Pickhardt, a radiologist from the University of Wisconsin, calls the virtual colonoscopy “the most cost-effective and safest screening option available.” He adds that this option may “encourage more adults to undergo screening.” Dr. Pickhardt appeared on PBS’s “News Hour” in 2003, talking about this exciting new screening test. He told Margaret Walker, “By using this 3-D virtual fly-through to actually find the polyps, which I believe is a more effective search pattern, we’re able to match conventional colonoscopy in performance.” In fact, a number of patients find this colon cancer prevention screening preferable to more invasive tests.
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