Posted on 02/23/2016 2:14:57 PM PST by originalbuckeye
TORONTO-New Canadian guidelines say colonoscopy should not be used for routine screening to detect colorectal cancer in patients with no symptoms or family history of the disease.
The guidelines from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care strongly recommend that low-risk patients aged 50 to 74 be screened using fecal occult blood tests every two years or sigmoidoscopy every 10 years.
Sigmoidoscopy involves the insertion of a flexible scope to view the lower portion of the colon and rectum rather than the entire tract, as is the case with colonoscopy.
The task force also advises against screening asymptomatic patients age 75-plus because of their reduced life expectancy and the lack of research showing benefit or potential harms of the tests.
Task force member Dr. Scott Klarenbach of the University of Alberta says the guidelines do not apply to high-risk patients who have symptoms or a family history of the disease.
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in men and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in women. In 2015, an estimated 25,000 Canadians were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and approximately 9,300 died from the disease.
"Although colonoscopy may offer clinical benefits that are similar to or greater than those associated with flexible sigmoidoscopy, direct evidence of its efficacy from randomized controlled trials in comparison to the other screening tests . . . is presently lacking," said Dr. Maria Bacchus, an internist at the University of Calgary who chaired the guideline working group.
"However, ongoing clinical trials are working to address this research gap," she said.
The new guidelines are based on the latest available research and update the task force's previous 2001 advice, which recommended fecal occult blood testing every one to two years or sigmoidoscopy every five years in asymptomatic adults.
The Canadian guideline is similar to the 2008 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation that adults aged 50 to 75 should be screened for colorectal cancer using a fecal occult blood test or flexible sigmoidoscopy.
While the U.S. group also recommended colonoscopy, its Canadian counterpart does not believe there is sufficient evidence to support that decision.
The Canadian task force was established to develop clinical practice guidelines for primary-care providers related to a variety of preventive-health issues, based on a systematic analysis of the most recent scientific evidence.
A key feature of socialized medicine is institutionalized efforts to suppress demand. The socialists think that if they can quash demand for particular services with regulatory hurdles then it’s a service you don’t need.
Yes. It’s their way of making Socialized Medicine ‘affordable’. All workers pay an extra 15% of their wages in taxes and in return, get ‘free’ health care. Except when the Government decides you don’t get the care you need. Your life isn’t worth the cost of the care. And then you have no where to turn to get care. Remember when Obama promised more preventative medicine?? Socialized Medicine only works well for healthy people. Once you have a chronic disease, you better hope the Government decides your life is worth the cost of the care you need.
And one more thing......people say ‘if they won’t give me the test or care that I need, I will just pay for it myself’. Medicine doesn’t work that way. To get any lab test, you will need a requisition from a doctor. And doctors have already been told that they will be fined if they order tests ‘not warranted’ by the Government health care overseers. You cannot just go to any doctor you choose or have any care that the Government doesn’t authorize. We are in a boatload of trouble.....most Americans don’t yet realize what Socialized Medicine is really like. Big Media has been lying to the general public for years about the ‘benefits of Socialism, especially Socialized Medicine’.
A neighbor—a WW2 war hero—in his 80s “died on the table” during a colonoscopy.
Was it the colonoscopy or the anesthesia?
The Fraud in Obamacare should be exposed.
Unknown...
I know a young woman who died on the operating table during a very minor vaginal surgery from the drugs used to put her under
Ditto me that....but last July the doc found an unusually shaped one that he couldn't snag; he didn't like the looks of it, so suggested I have it surgically removed.
Bottom line was after the surgeon yanked a foot of large intestine (which is standard procedure) he saw some diverticulosis in the neighborhood so he proceeded to yank another large section. The only good part is that everything was benign.
Five days in the hospital, and I'm a really sh*tty patient. I'm gonna think hard and fast about doing another colonoscopy.
Well, I’m sorry to hear that. In time the memory will fade, but at least you’ll still have a memory.
All the best to you.
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