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

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-appointed, independent panel of doctors and scientists, raised quite a ruckus with its recommendations on the frequency of mammograms and pap smears, bucking the American Cancer Society’s recommendations by suggesting that fewer screenings were necessary for otherwise healthy women. But the task force’s opinions on colonoscopies mirror those of ACS with at least one small exception – limiting colorectal exams for patients 75 years and older.

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Let’s face it. There is no comfortable way to prepare for a colonoscopy. You can call it a necessary evil, but colon screenings are necessary for early detection of colorectal cancer for people ages 50 and older, those with a family history, or individuals who are experiencing bothersome symptoms, such as blood in the stool. After all, early detection of precancerous lesions are associated with an up to 90 percent reduction in colon cancer, the country’s second-leading cause of cancer deaths.

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Movie stars and celebrities may swear by them, but medical experts agree that colon cleansing should only be done when medically necessary.

“Sometimes it is necessary for people preparing to undergo a medical procedure or examination, such as a colonoscopy or a colon x-ray,” says to Dr. Mark Larson, a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in the Hartford Courant. “But unless a doctor has recommended it as a preparation for such procedure, I strongly discourage people from colon cleansing. It can cause traumatic injury to the colon and result in long-term medical problems.”

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Most people dread colonoscopies. Not only does the procedure, which involves a physician running a flexible tube through your colon and intestines, sound uncomfortable, the prep can be a real pain in the you-know-what. This is one reason why, when your doctor orders a colonoscopy, you’ll want to be sure you cleanse your bowel thoroughly and effectively to ensure that your doctor has a clear view of your colon. If not, you may have to repeat the procedure and the prep along with it.

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Many physicians who perform colonoscopies are beginning to ask their patient for a second cleansing of the bowel in the wee hours before their procedures to ensure the bowel is clean and reduce the need for a redo.

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A study by a group of Italian researchers shows that virtual colonoscopies that use computer tomography scans are almost as effective at detecting tumors and precancerous lesions as standard colonoscopies, which requires threading a camera through the colon. The study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that the new procedure may offer an alternative to people who are too embarrassed or afraid to undergo a standard colonoscopy.

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Colorectal cancer, or cancers of the colon or rectum, is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States among men and women combined, according to the American Cancer Society. The average person has about a 1 in 19 risk of developing the disease over his lifetime. Detected early, the disease can be curable. The best defense is regular screenings. Regular colonoscopies are recommended beginning at age 50, or sooner for those with a family history or exhibiting symptoms.

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Two studies in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN) suggest that at least 50 percent of patients undergoing a screening colonoscopy receive oral sodium phosphates (OSP) to prep their bowel. Which means as many as 7 million of the 14 million Americans who have regular screenings each year are at risk for a serious kidney injury that has been associated with the use of OSP. The article estimates that as many as 1,400 to 7,000 people could be injured each year by the product used routinely for bowel clearing.

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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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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.

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