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Is the Fight Against Cancer Going Too Far?
By Alice Wessendorf on 05/31/2011
Let’s face it, a colonoscopy is not a test that anyone looks forward to. You know it’s important…your doctor says so…so you go. But to be honest, you’d rather be doing almost anything else.
Well, to add insult to injury, a team of researchers from the University of Texas (U of T) is now saying that you may have been subjected to a colonoscopy when you didn’t even need one.
Let me explain.
The clinical guidelines for colonoscopies say that after a patient has had an original screening he should not have another one for 10 years unless signs of cancer were found during that first test.
However, when the U of T scientists followed a group of 24,071 Medicare patients, all of whom had received their initial colonoscopies showing no signs of cancer, they found that second tests were being performed much sooner than needed.
Close to a quarter of the patients—23.5% of the group—had received a second screening within seven years. And the numbers get even worse if you’re older, with 45.6% of the patients between 75 and 79 years old getting second screenings earlier than needed.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, concluded that the needless tests are not only costing extra money but also tying up valuable limited equipment, preventing patients that really should be getting screenings from getting them.
And, of course, they’re also putting the victims of the extra screenings at an unacceptably higher risk of experiencing complications from the procedures.
No one would argue against colonoscopies being an important cancer-screening tool, but their overuse can be more of a burden than a benefit.
If your doctor is sending you for a follow-up colonoscopy within less than 10 years of your initial negative screening don’t be afraid to ask why. He should have a good reason for putting you through the procedure again so soon.
And if you’re going in for your first screening don’t forget to keep track of the date, so you can prevent yourself from becoming the next victim of premature screening.
Remember, poisons and medicine are often the same substances given with different intentions.
Printer-friendly versionAbout the author
An enthusiastic believer in the power of natural healing, Alice has spent virtually her entire 17-year career in the natural-health publishing field helping to spread the word.
She is an advocate of self-education and is passionate about the power of group knowledge sharing, like the kind found right here on HealthierTalk.com. Alice loves to share her views on holistic and natural healing as well as her, sometimes contentious, thoughts on the profit-driven inner workings of traditional medicine.
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Comments
Anonymous
When money is involved nothing else matters, I guess our senior citizens are more prone to be taken advantage of, and of the Dr who is doing the screening I would think he/she would mention something as how long ago did a patient had the screening, and if it is too early to say so, it is not as if the patient do not see the Dr beforehand, the consultation is set and this is where the Dr should tell the patient that it is too early if the previous screening was OK of course. JAM
Anonymous
My mother died from colon cancer and I've already had testicular cancer at 57 years old. So if my doctor wants a colonostophy EVERY Year I'd say.. When do you want me to show up..!!!
Rett
What does a person do who has no faith in what doctors do today in the name of health and well being. I've had three doctors since I had a mild heart attack in late 2001. I was under a lot of stress. Two weeks prior 9/11 happened. My husband was drinking his bourbon all the time. It was a very difficult time all around. Dr. R did not care about all this. He only wanted me to take the meds and shut up. Dr, G was no better. The two of them sent me certified letters giving me 30 days to find another doctor because I chose alternative, nutritional approaches to my "health" issues. The third doctor would just make a not that I refused his recommendations for a statin, an ACE inhibitor and whatever else he came up with. I haven't seen him in over 4 years because of a bad incident at a local hospital during his ordered 24 hour observation. What the staff did at his orders was to cover their own butts instead of my benefit. Doctors have been so contaminated by big pharma, if you can afford alternative care, you are truly blessed. I and my husband have had colonoscopies but I know it's been almost 10 years. There are not any real doctors in our area and we can't afford to drive all over the state to find one. :)
Anonymous
After my last (second) procedure, the doctor allowed as how he'd see me again in three years. My first thought was, "when pigs fly!". The procedure is duck soup; it's the preparation that is horrible.
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