The Centers for Disease Controlsays colon cancer is the second deadliest type of cancer and third most diagnosed in the U.S.
The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC Physicians opened a new endoscopy clinic last week in west Omaha. Dr. Grant Hutchins, a Nebraska Medical Center gastroenterologist, says screening should begin at age 50 for individuals in a low-risk category. "We recommend for Caucasians they start screening at age 50, and for African-Americans that they start screening at age 40."
People with a family history of colon cancer should be screened when they’re ten years younger than the age their immediate family member was diagnosed. For example, if the immediate family member was diagnosed with colon cancer at age 50, screening should be done at age 40.
Dr. Hutchins says the cure rate is nearly one-hundred percent when polyps or pre-cancerous lesions are found and removed before they turn in to colon cancer.
