Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Next Step in TSA Screening

I kidded a while back that the next step in TSA screening would be so invasive that it would be combined with a colonoscopy.  This article from the February 23, 2012 New York Daily News makes a very strong case for why you should get it done (even if TSA doesn't start including it as part of preflight):

A medical test that everyone dreads can dramatically reduce the chances of dying from colorectal cancer, a groundbreaking new study says.
Researchers have found that colonoscopies cut the risk of dying by 53% if pre-cancerous polyps are removed during the procedure. 
The study, done by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center researchers who tracked patients for as long as 20 years, confirmed what doctors have long believed but lacked rigorous scientific evidence to prove.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/major-study-memorial-sloan-kettering-cancer-center-shows-colonoscopies-cut-risk-dying-cancer-article-1.1027668#ixzz1nFRCEY3M
I have a friend who is making a second round of battles with colon cancer, and it is one of the reasons that I got off my... let me rephrase that... got around to having a colonoscopy done several years ago.   It isn't particularly pleasant, but compared to colon cancer treatment?

3 comments:

  1. well, I don't know how unpleasant it was, as I was out during the test. Preparations were a slightly different matter, but as you said, compared to colon cancer which got my grandmother? I endeavor to not have a $4!77Y attitude about things that in the grand scheme are merely unpleasant.

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  2. I'd rather have a colonoscopy than a tooth filled!

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  3. I use to work in the "frozen section" of a major cancer hospital. This was where they would take all of the body parts they removed from cancer patients. I saw colon cancer everyday for years. Yes, colonoscopies are worth it.

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