Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

In his health care speech last week to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama argued that “there is no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense.” It makes sense, too, to the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), which has long supported the lifesaving potential of screening by colonoscopy specifically because it can detect and remove pre-cancerous polyps and thereby prevent the development of colorectal cancer.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) black box warning on oral sodium phosphates (OSPs) came late last year, but as early as 2003, doctors were beginning to make the link between OSP pills and solutions used to clear the bowel before colonoscopies and serious and permanent kidney injuries. As more and more reports of kidney damage and even complete kidney failure began to pour in to the FDA, the agency finally issued a mild warning in 2005. The black box warning on prescription OSP products would come three years later, after 21 more reports of serious kidney injuries. Soon after that FDA warning, C.B. Fleet quickly pulled its over-the-counter OSP products off the market.

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It seems every time you turn on the TV, flip through a magazine, or go online, you are faced with another commercial or infomercial about the benefits of detoxifying the body through magic pills or solutions. From detox diets and foot cleansings to nasal irrigation and colon clearing– the options are seemingly limitless. Proving the benefits of such toxin-removing practices is sketchy, says Dr. Tyrone M. in a column in the Phillippine Star. And some practices can be downright dangerous to your health.

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Could samples of your stool keep you from having a colonoscopy? Researchers at Baylor Medical Center think so. A team of doctors from Baylor pored through stool samples, analyzed long strands of DNA and were able to diagnose gastrointestinal cancers early, according to a report from KARE-TV 11.

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Persons with irritable bowel, heightened anxiety, and those who anticipated discomfort are more likely to experience abdominal discomfort during a colonoscopy, according to a study in this month’s issue of the European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. The study, which explored factors associated with discomfort during a colonoscopy, also found women were more likely than men to experience discomfort during the medical procedure.

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Clinical trials of a vaccine designed to trigger the body to attack a protein linked to colon cancer are currently being conducted by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The vaccine activates the immune system to target a defective protein which is prevalent in colorectal cancer tissue and other precancerous tissues. Researchers hope, if proven successful, the vaccine may eliminate the need for repeated colon screenings in high-risk patients. These patients tend to have multiple precancerous polyps, called advanced adenomas, in their intestines. Routine colonoscopies look for signs of recurrence of the polyps.

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Some hospitals across the country are choosing an alternative method of prepping the bowel before colonoscopies that does not require patients to drink a gallon of liquid laxatives the day before the procedure, according to EndoNurse. The new procedure is called colon hydrotherapy and involves infusing the colon with warm, filtered, chemical-free water to effectively clear it.

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An estimated 106,100 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer and 40,870 with rectal cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society. It is the second leading cause of cancer-related death. But the good news is that the death rate is dropping. One reason is that regular screenings have allowed doctors to find more colorectal cancers sooner, thus making the disease easier to cure.

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