According to a report from London, a five-minute “flexi-scope” test might just reduce the occurrences of death because of colon cancer by at least 40%. This test requires the insertion of a tube the size of a pen into the colon so that the doctors can pinpoint and remove small polyps.
The subjects used for this test are individuals in their 50s. It is important to note that the government in the UK doesn’t fund colon cancer screening for individuals younger than 60 years of age. The test just needs to be done once and it could already the chances of dying from colon cancer by 43%.
For the research, doctors monitored 170,000 people for a period of 11 years. Of that number, only 40,000 had a flexi-scope test. The research results were published in an online medical journal called the Lancet recently, and it was funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council.
The point of the research was for the experts to convince authorities to reconsider the way they test people for colon cancer. Fecal blood tests and colonoscopies may cost more and may be more inconvenient than a flexi-scope test. While these are common colon cancer screening methods, no trials have proven that they’re actually effective.
Ironically enough, colonoscopy has been perceived in the US as the better colon cancer screening method compared to a flexi-scope test for the longest time. According to the American Cancer Society, though, there are more than one options for colon cancer screening for people who are younger than 50. This includes a flexi-scope test every decade.