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.
Look back over our exchange and try to remind me where I took you to task for supporting your guy.
I merely said I was quite satisfied with my candidate’s stance.
Support whoever you want, but when you start implying that my guy will cost folks their health, I think it’s reasoned for me to state my guy won’t.
I have auto insurance and home owners insurance with USAA. If I wished, I could also have health insurance. USAA is now and always has been in Texas. They have covered my vehicles and homes in Europe, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, California and Nevada. In addition, the vehicles are covered in any state I might be in.
I do not have to go to Texas to live, to drive or to get sick. They write my policies to state specifications, not federal and my preferences.
“A handful of almonds every two days will keep ya clean.”
I live in MA. That’s such a Vermont-ish type of health hint.
:-)
Thanks !
.
Amen. You are so right.
There's our problem right there.
How then can I promote my own candidate's policies without it being taken as disparaging your's?
I do have a real problem with a campaign consisting solely of personal attacks when there are really, really important issues at stake. That was my point.
My Doc (the same one mentioned in my earlier post) took advantage of a recent hospitalization to do a lot of “diagnostic” testing on me.
I trust him as I trust myself, but I did inquire why he was ordering so many tests and he flat out said that while I was in the hospital he could get away with a lot of stuff that would otherwise be denied by Medicare. (Unless of course I wanted to pay out of pocket for them - which just isn’t an option.)
I guess I’m luckier than a lot of folks.
I am in MA too.
Ooops !!!
Again,thanks for the advise.
.
That is what is worst about the earned income tax credit scam, and the huge number of freebies the so-called poor get. Half the people in the US just parasite off the other half.
It is infuriating, and it will not last.
“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”
That’s what I told my Doctor for the past several years. He finally gave it up and went with the fecal blood test and guess what? No problems. $200 non invasive test.
I’ve read that a significant percentage of people get diagnosed before the age of 50. Due to my medical history, I’ve been getting them for years and I’ll be 50 this year.
Cologuard uses advanced stool DNA technology to find elevated levels of altered DNA and/or hemoglobin in these abnormal cells, which could be associated with cancer or precancer.
http://www.cologuardtest.com/
Were you put under general?
If you understand how the gut populations work, and what foods harm them and the gut walls, you wont need to get scanned. Colonoscopy, while maybe important for people who have symptoms or who have had a bad diet, is harmful. The gut bugs are far more important there than anything our bodies do. If they are happy, everything will be fine. The polyethylene glycol given to people to clean them out before the colonoscopy destroys the gut population. it also reaches the brain, and can do harm there, hopefully only temporarily. If someone really felt they actually needed a colonoscopy, they should ask for a magnesium clean out alternative instead of polyethylene.
Did I address your candidate?
I merely said that I am very happy with my candidate’s position.
I think that is a reasoned way to address an implication without making a personal attack.
You didn’t. I didn’t.
Mine was a completely positive response.
I didn’t infer another candidate would cost someone their health without mentioning their name.
Do you really think my comments were inappropriate in response?
And whoever believes that is WRONG....Canadian health care is rationed. They have less advanced procedures than the US (the machinery is expensive ya know). They have a single payer plan that forces folks out in the western provinces to enter a raffle get a doctor when a patient either moves or dies. PLUS it is well known in border communities that Canadians come down to the states to have procedures done because the Canadians will pay for it here when it isn’t available there
read this and skip your next colonoscopy.
http://roarofwolverine.com/archives/2772
Remember that one of the things doctors are best at is guilting and pushing you into treatments. It takes a STRONG person to keep saying no to the person in the white coat. If your digestion is fine, please think twice before risking this treatment.
https://www.gutsense.org/crc/crc_side_effects.html
My husbabd’s PSA was very abnormal at his regular 50 year old check up. He had sTage 3 prostate cancer. He did not have a family history of it. They don’t recommend that test now.
After his surgery for his prostate cancer, he had a colonoscopy and they found and removed precancerous polyps. He’s supposed to have another one thus year.
My best friend died of colon cancer at 60.
I’ve had one colonoscopy, and I’ll continue to have them.
Screw the govt recommendations.
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