Bowel Cancer Diagnosis – Painless, Anaesthesia-Free Procedure

A harrowing 1.5 million individuals belonging to the high-risk bracket of developing bowel cancer have overlooked a hassle-free, gratis test that could be beneficial in spotting preliminary signs of the disease – that is deemed among the most fatal forms of cancers, but is treatable in 9 out of 10 cases.

Conceivably, this wide populace of people are apprehensive about the follow-up tests, however, the most modern procedure – virtual colonoscopy involves no pain or the need for anaesthesia.

The NHS initiated its countrywide bowel cancer screening plan 3 years back endeavouring to curb fatalities that have mounted to sixteen thousand annually. Only prostate and lung cancer are known to take lives of more men and just breast cancer alone is observed to claim the lives of more women.

From June 2006, testing kits have been circulated to 3.7 million people in the age bracket of 60-69 years, deemed the highly susceptible age bracket –requesting for stool sample intended for microscopic analysis to detect minuscule amounts of blood. However, regrettably merely 55% of those kits were given back.

It is planned that by the conclusion of the present year, all in the United Kingdom would be given a kit as soon as they touched sixty years of age. Though the use of the kit could deter many and be quite repulsive, the follow-up evaluation exams in those that tested affirmative have also been analogously intimidating.

During the course of the colonoscopy procedure that is conducted either under the influence of local or general anaesthesia; an endoscope is inserted for observing the inner parts of the colon. The fibreglass makeup of the endoscope ascertains its pliability and includes a set of magnifying and illuminated lenses employed for removal of any pre-malignant polyps.

A substitute to this procedure is barium enema or meal wherein the element barium forms a lining in the interior of the stomach wall facilitating the easy capture of X-rays for revealing the bowel. However, this also could be quite a disagreeable procedure and not as effectual in detecting malignant polyps.

Fortunately, a third means of detection known as virtual colonoscopy (CT colonoscopy) employs a computerised tomography for rendering three-dimensional imagery of the bowels from the insides of the body. The testing procedure is obtainable privately and costs about four hundred pounds.

Those with a family history of bowel cancer must ideally get scanned for any kind of dubious growths, on reaching fifty years of age as the cancer has been observed to be passed down the family line particularly via the male members of the kin.

The sole discomforting sensation experienced by the patients undergoing colonoscopy is the inflation of the colon by pumping in an average of 4 litres of carbon dioxide, introduced through the rectum that is only slightly discomforting.

The patient is asked to lie down face facing the bed that is placed inside a mega-sized CT scanner and the carbon dioxide is gradually passed inside leading to slow inflation of the interiors. One would feel a sense of distension, however no pain is experienced.

The bed then slides underneath a scanner and the patient is asked to hold breath for the short span of time the images of the bowel are being taken.

The entire process takes nearly 5 minutes and the patient is prepped for this procedure in advance by advised to stay in fasting for 2 days prior to this procedure and a strong laxative needs to be taken before this procedure. The outcome of the procedure takes about 5 days.

Virtual colonoscopy is not only comparatively safer but also much more comfortable than the existent ways, but is also analogously effectual.

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