Cancer

Colonoscopy, colon cancer and metastatic liver cancer prevention

A long title indicating that cancer prevention is not straight forward. This is extremely so when it cones to preventing secondary liver cancer. Why?

Because that means you need to prevent all possible primary cancers.

Sounds logical you would say, until you read Laura’s mother’s cancer story. Laura said her mother did regular colonoscopy tests, yet they never indicated she had small intestine cancer.

Dr. Drew only tells half the story

… And we are generous in saying he gives you half the story.

First we have to admit that colonoscopy only examines the colon, therefore cannot be used to detect any cancer in the small intestine.

Having said so I do remember Dr. Drew filming his own colonoscopy in order to “prevent colon cancer”. Or is he selling colonoscopy treatments?

I mean, when there is virtual colonoscopy available, why would you still broadcast on TV that people should be examined in a way that feels like mediaeval torture, be it that you are quite asleep and wont feel much pain?

Virtual colonoscopy also called CT colonography only requires an intestinal cleansing but is performed rapidly, without sedation, and without the invasiveness of flexible video colonoscopy.

How to detect early colon cancer

Colonscopy and sigmoidoscopy (inspection of the lower colon with a similar invasive instrument) are only 2 ways to detect early colon cancer. Why don’t you hear about other detection methods like:

• a simple stool test to check for blood : non invasive, therefore easier to advice people to do the test!
   
• double contrast barium enema: x-rays taken of the lower intestine after a patient is given an enema with a white chalky solution that contains barium. This could have been very useful for my father with whom the endoscope could not get through the whole colon due to some anatomical problem (a twisted kind of colon). Father had metastatic liver cancer with unknown primary.

  

• non invasive virtual colonoscopy, again lots of people would go for a virtual colonoscopy but use the expression “over my death body” when it comes to normal colonoscopy.

Early detection versus prevention

Notice that Dr. Drew is only telling you half of the story. Colonoscopy is great for detecting tumors and cancers before your body shows the symptoms of cancer.

Yet prevention should start way before the tumor or cancer already is in your colon.

TV doctor Dr.Oz does talk about eating lots and lots of tomatoes and broccoli… Why can he only touch tomatoes and can’t touch more sensitive issues like our daily food treated with pesticides and herbicides?

And why doesn’t anybody touch the air pollution?

Cancer prevention using colonoscopy is a cleaner way to say : detecting early cancer. What keeps us from real cancer prevention research?

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