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Are colonoscopies worth it?

asteriskmag.com

11–20 of 296 posts

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#12
Article doesn't actually answer the question? Certainly interesting information about the topic and efficacy, but it doesn't really explain how the current situation came about.

Why is my neighbor driving around on a donut? I could write 3000 words on the history of tires, the assorted trade offs of trunk storage vs spare diameter, the geographical distribution of potholes, etc., but none of that explains why the donut is there.

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#13

As far as I know, countries outside the USA that recommend it are Switzerland, Germany, and Austria: https://publichealthreviews.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11...

I was going to post the same thing – Poland launched a nationwide campaign two years ago to get all people over 50 years old (above 40 if they had family history) in for a colonoscopy. However, the linked article is working with a European study done a decade ago (EDIT: I’m wrong about that). There may have once been greater differences between American and European approaches.

[dead]

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#14
The sad thing about the article is that skirts around mentioning the possibility that the American disease industry hates this trial because it will reduce their income.

The good thing about the article is that it has a colonoscopy joke that also involves (bonus for the HN crowd) Bayesians.

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#15

As far as I know, countries outside the USA that recommend it are Switzerland, Germany, and Austria: https://publichealthreviews.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11...

I was going to post the same thing – Poland launched a nationwide campaign two years ago to get all people over 50 years old (above 40 if they had family history) in for a colonoscopy. However, the linked article is working with a European study done a decade ago (EDIT: I’m wrong about that). There may have once been greater differences between American and European approaches.

The nordicc trial was published last year. This is recent results, trials with 10 year followup take a long time to run.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2208375

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#17
post #5

Colonoscopies come with potential for complications. There are actually a number of companies which have either released or plan to release non-invasive colorectal cancer screening based on blood dna sequencing. GRAIL, Freenome, and Guardant all have tests out or coming down the pipeline.

I got a letter from the government last year saying they wanted some of my poo, so I sent them some. The whole thing was weird, but much better than visiting a doctor.

I'm in Australia.

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#18

Article doesn't actually answer the question? Certainly interesting information about the topic and efficacy, but it doesn't really explain how the current situation came about. Why is my neighbor driving around on a donut? I could write 3000 words on the history of tires, the assorted trade offs of trunk storage vs spare diameter, the geographical distribution of potholes, etc., but none of that explains why the don…

> Why is my neighbor driving around on a donut?

Complications from a colonoscopy?

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#19

My doctor recommended Cologuard, a test of your stool sample for cancerous DNA, instead of a colonoscopy. I can't imagine taking a colonoscopy now.

Colonoscopy has a big advantage in that they are already in there. If they see anything forming that is pre-cancerous they can take it out before it turns into a problem that would show up on a Cologuard test.

Re: Are colonoscopies worth it?

#20

Article doesn't actually answer the question? Certainly interesting information about the topic and efficacy, but it doesn't really explain how the current situation came about. Why is my neighbor driving around on a donut? I could write 3000 words on the history of tires, the assorted trade offs of trunk storage vs spare diameter, the geographical distribution of potholes, etc., but none of that explains why the don…

I was satisfied with the answer given in the Discussion section at the end of the article.
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