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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.
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.
Encouraging people to get colorectal cancer screenings can be difficult, even though early detection can often lead to a cure. “It is one of the most feared of all illnesses and people … don’t want to know about it if they don’t have to,” Dr. Taina Taskila of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom told Reuters Health. Dr. Taskila and a team of researchers from the university conducted a study to find out who is most likely to opt out of colorectal screenings and what can be done to change attitudes about the potentially life-saving procedure.
Colonoscopies are serious business. The procedure involves sending a small camera inside the colon to search for abnormalities, including colon or rectal cancers, also known as colorectal cancer. Regular colon screenings can find polyps even before they become cancerous. By removing those polyps, one can literally dodge colorectal cancer.
The elderly and those with certain chronic health conditions are at greater risk of suffering from complications following colonoscopies, according to a study conducted by researchers from National Cancer Institute and the University of North Carolina. The study, which was published last month in the Annals of Internal Medicine, looked at data from 53,220 Medicare beneficiaries aged 66 to 95 who underwent colonoscopy between 2001 and 2005.
Laxatives, like Fleet Phospho-Soda, an oral sodium phosphate (OSP) product, have been sold over the counter for more than a century, so it may come as some surprise that these products suddenly fall under a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning that links the use of OSPs to a serious kidney injury.
