Colorectal Cancer Screening Saves Lives

More than 130,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer every year and nearly 50,000 of them die from the disease. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. after lung cancer. Despite being preventable, more than 30 percent of the adults in this country are not getting screened for colorectal cancer.   

The good news is that colorectal cancer has a 90 percent survival rate when it is detected early enough. In fact, gastroenterologists can perform a colonoscopy to detect this disease in a person before they exhibit any symptoms as these highly-trained doctors are able to detect and remove colon polyps that can turn into colon cancer while they perform this procedure.

It is important for every patient to discuss getting screened for colorectal cancer with their primary care physician or gastroenterologist.