Harvard Health: When -- and how -- should you be screened for colon cancer?

If recent messages about colon cancer screening have left you a little confused, that’s understandable. In August, the American College of Physicians released

Overall, deaths from colon cancer dropped by 2% per year from 2011 to 2020. But that’s not the case among people younger than 50. In that age group, deaths from colon cancer rose between 0.5% and 3% during the same time period, according toThe rising rates of colon cancer in younger people are occurring in all racial and ethnic groups, with the steepest rises seen among Alaskan Natives and Native Americans.

Colonoscopy. For this test, a gastroenterologist or surgeon snakes a long, flexible tube with a camera on the end through your rectum and beyond to inspect the entire length of your colon. Considered the gold-standard test, this procedure can detect precancerous polyps called adenomas, and allow for their removal.

Two tests, the fecal occult blood test and fecal immunochemical test , check for blood. They require small stool samples that you put on a card or in a tube that’s then mailed to a lab. These tests should be done every year.

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