Smart health facts: Colonoscopy
If your last colonoscopy uncovered benign polyps, it doesn't necessarily mean you need another colonoscopy soon. According to medical guidelines, routine colonoscopies should be done every 10 years unless pre-cancerous growths are discovered. Yet many doctors are asking their patients to get one sooner.
During a colonoscopy, a doctor puts a tube with a camera into your rectum to take pictures. The doctor may also remove unusual tissue or growths during the procedure.
Why you might need a colonoscopy
Most colonoscopies are done to screen for cancer, but you might also need one if you have:
- Pain in your abdomen, changes in your bowel movements, or weight loss
- Unusual tissue (a polyp) in your colon
- A bowel disease (ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease)
- Blood in your body's waste or black stools
- High risk factors, for example strong family history of colorectal cancer or polyps
Understand the risks of a colonoscopy
- Bleeding caused by removing the tissue
- Tear in the lining that needs to be repaired
- Reaction to enemas and laxatives including fluid imbalance, nausea, bloating, etc.
- Reaction to the medicine used to help you relax during procedure
- Infection
Ask your doctor about your options
Talk with your doctor about the screening method(s) that is appropriate for you. These testing methods may be used together or separately:
- Fecal occult blood test
- Sigmoidoscopy, using a flexible small scope examine the lower part of your colon
- Colonoscopy
After your initial colonoscopy, ask your doctor when you to schedule a follow-up procedure:
- Unless you have an increased risk for cancer, the American Cancer Society recommends a follow-up colonoscopy every 10 years.2
Learn more
When you log in to your Priority Health account:
Other helpful websites:
1 Kimmey MB. Complications of gastrointestinal endoscopy. In: Feldman M. Freedman LS, Brandt LJ, eds. Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2010: Chap 40.
2 www.cancer.org
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