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Since you guys are so big on screening tests I wanted to mention one you should look at - yesterday I had a Transnasal Esophagoscopy. This is a small scope done in the doctor's office that examines your throat and esophagus. You are fully awake and it took about 5 minutes. It is very safe. Since it goes through your nose you won't have gag reflex.
I had no idea this exam was out there but indeed it is recommended as a test to watch for Esophageal Cancer and in my case it ruled out EC and Gerd and LPR. Which the gastro probably would have found evidence of but an ENT doctor doesn't stand to gain from those conditions so didn't find any evidence of that.
If you go to a gastro to check these things out they will want you to do the dreaded endoscopy which will require sedation. And that is a major cash cow and has more risks.
See now this is the kind of screening test that people *should* be getting but I ended up having to fight for it. No radiation, great safety profile, cheap and quick, no sedation.
There is also a smaller scope that the ENT doctor uses that is even less invasive and safe that just goes to your voice box... but how many times have you ever gone to an ENT? Even my own doctor referred me to the gastro for my symptoms. I wonder how many other better screening options are available but aren't used because they don't maximize profit.
One more time...... take a look at Medicare and other health insurance reimbursement rates, compared to what's billed, and you will see what providers are actually paid for these screening tests you decry, hardly cash cows.
I doubt transnasal esophagoscopy would have caught my colon cancer, or the breast cancers of the numbers of individuals who posted about it in this thread.
And if I have GERD, I'll probably know about it from the symptoms and wouldn't be needing an invasive test to find it.
Ridicule and turn a blind eye to the value of screening tests for colon cancer and other GI cancers, breast cancer, and other cancers all you want, but there is more than adequate evidence ( both anecdotal and statistical- shown even in the linked article in your OP) that these screening tests can save lives, by detecting cancers at an early stage before they have spread,
can save a lot of the pain and suffering ( and yes, $$$$$ too) involved in treating cancers detected when the symptoms caused by their metastasis and large sizes become too unbearable to ignore.
But you do you, as is your right. Good luck with that.
As the expression goes, "watch what I do, not what I say." I get the exams, despite my misgivings. I am told the scope only sees one half of the colon, That concerns me. Also of concern is that when an actual malignant polyp is visible the "horse may be out of the barn." On the other hand, get them "too early" and the polyps are not caught.
Having lost my father to colorectal (probably rectal) cancer when he was 47, I was 15, I have read the field of literature. But, I still get them.
Well you have misread that literature then.
A colonoscopy checks the entire length of the colon (large intestine). It doesn't check the small intestine. But the small intestine is not the colon. So no - the scope doesn't see "one half of the colon."
Polyps /become/ malignant. That means if you see a polyp in a colonoscopy, you remove it - and check it for abnormal cells. If it's not abnormal, then that's good news. It means you no longer have polyps in your colon that could become malignant.
It also means - that they found polyps, so you probably should get another colonoscopy sooner than the usual 10 years. So you have to deal with that nasty prep sooner rather than later. It could be 2-3 years, or 5 years, instead of 10. That's the bad news.
A colonoscopy checks the entire length of the colon (large intestine). It doesn't check the small intestine. But the small intestine is not the colon. So no - the scope doesn't see "one half of the colon."
Polyps /become/ malignant. That means if you see a polyp in a colonoscopy, you remove it - and check it for abnormal cells. If it's not abnormal, then that's good news. It means you no longer have polyps in your colon that could become malignant.
It also means - that they found polyps, so you probably should get another colonoscopy sooner than the usual 10 years. So you have to deal with that nasty prep sooner rather than later. It could be 2-3 years, or 5 years, instead of 10. That's the bad news.
Actually the literature says "one side" of the colon.
Actually the literature says "one side" of the colon.
If it is a true colonoscopy, the entire colon is being examined. A procedure called flexible sigmoidoscopy used to be commonly used, and that only viewed the left side of the colon. But a few people are doing flexible sigmoidoscopy these days, as obviously you can miss polyps on the right side of the colon which will grow into cancers if not removed. Since right sided colon cancers can be asymptomatic until they are very late stage, it is important not to miss them.
That's only one screening, and there are now much less risky and invasive screenings for colon cancer. It still doesn't negate the fact that MOST cancer screenings pose no or very little risk.
Someone sees that only 14% of cancers are found by screening, but that is misleading because there are no routine screenings for most cancers. But for the ones there are, that number is much different. How many breast cancers are found from routine mammograms? How many cases or prostate cancer are found with blood tests/screenings? I guarantee, it's more than 14%.
That's only one screening, and there are now much less risky and invasive screenings for colon cancer. It still doesn't negate the fact that MOST cancer screenings pose no or very little risk.
Someone sees that only 14% of cancers are found by screening, but that is misleading because there are no routine screenings for most cancers. But for the ones there are, that number is much different. How many breast cancers are found from routine mammograms? How many cases or prostate cancer are found with blood tests/screenings? I guarantee, it's more than 14%.
Obviously you have a point. I guess colon screenings are what apply to me.
A colonoscopy checks the entire length of the colon (large intestine). It doesn't check the small intestine. But the small intestine is not the colon. So no - the scope doesn't see "one half of the colon."
Polyps /become/ malignant. That means if you see a polyp in a colonoscopy, you remove it - and check it for abnormal cells. If it's not abnormal, then that's good news. It means you no longer have polyps in your colon that could become malignant.
It also means - that they found polyps, so you probably should get another colonoscopy sooner than the usual 10 years. So you have to deal with that nasty prep sooner rather than later. It could be 2-3 years, or 5 years, instead of 10. That's the bad news.
I had polyps, and they were all clear, and I was told to come back for another colonoscopy in ten years.
I had polyps, and they were all clear, and I was told to come back for another colonoscopy in ten years.
I had 3, and they told me 7 years.
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