Bowel cancer screening is a process of examining healthy people for early cancer symptoms. The screening seeks to discover bowel cancer early on when treatment has the best chance of being effective. The test can also detect polyps that could be life-threatening. Individuals aged 50 to 74 should use a non-invasive test for blood in the feces that can be performed at home.
The fecal occult blood test (FOBT) is exclusively for low-risk persons and have no signs of colon cancer. Though it is not recommended for persons who have a history of bowel cancer in their family, you may need screening colonoscopies in this situation.
How Is Bowel Cancer Detected?
Bowel cancer is detected using different tests, such as:
Colonoscopy. This procedure uses a flexible tube about the diameter of a finger with a light and tiny video camera at the end to examine the entire length of the colon and rectum during this test. It’s inserted through the anus, the rectum, and the colon. If necessary, special instruments can be inserted through the colonoscope to take a sample or remove suspicious-looking tissues like polyps.
Sigmoidoscopy. This procedure is comparable to a colonoscopy, except that it does not examine the entire colon. However, it allows the technician to see just about half of the colon and the whole rectum.
Virtual colonoscopy. This is a particular type of advanced computed tomography scan of the colon and rectum to detect irregularities such as polyps or cancer.
Are The Results Accurate?
Oftentimes, bowel cancer screening procedures offer accurate results. However, there are instances where some results end up being either a false positive result or a false negative result.
In a false positive result, the test will detect something despite the person not having cancer. Meanwhile, a false negative result will fail to detect the signs of cancer.
