Colonoscopy is the best way to prevent colon cancer 2023
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00:00Hello, I am Nicole Mahalik from 92.5 XTU.
00:04And hi, I'm Marissa Magnata from 93.3 WMMR, the Preston and Steve show.
00:09Nicole, we're not together, but we are joined by another new friend from Virtua.
00:14Yes, hello, hello.
00:17Dr. Charles Snyder, a gastroenterologist from Virtua GI Digestive Health.
00:24And Marissa and I may be physically separate,
00:26but we're together in making everybody from the Delaware Valley healthy to celebrate
00:30and to be aware of Cholar Correctal Cancer Awareness Month.
00:35That is a mouthful, but doctor, please, you can just fill us in from the very beginning
00:41what exactly that means.
00:42Sure, great.
00:43Thank you both for having me.
00:46So for those who are unaware, colon cancer screening is something that we do for all patients.
00:53So this is everyone starting at the age of 45 years old.
00:57So if you know somebody who is 45 years old, or if you yourself are 45 years old,
01:01this really applies to you.
01:03And basically, colon cancer is so common in the US population that we just screen everybody.
01:10We're really looking at all asymptomatic people.
01:11This is people who have no symptoms, no bleeding, no pain.
01:14If you're 45, you should get screened.
01:17There are a few different forms of screening, which we can talk about.
01:20But most importantly, if you know someone in your life who's 45,
01:23please encourage them to get screened.
01:25March is Colorectal Cancer Screening Month.
01:28So it's a good time to have that talk with one of your loved ones.
01:31But I think any time is a good time to talk to your loved ones about screening.
01:35And I think it's really interesting too, because I've been very aware of this.
01:38My grandmother actually died from colon cancer in the early 90s.
01:42So this has been something that my family has been very aware of and passionate about since then.
01:47But a lot of people don't realize how important it is.
01:50And unfortunately, how common it is.
01:52And that doing the colonoscopy and getting screened is so important.
01:56And we've seen in the last couple of years, unfortunately, we lost Chadman Bozeman to colon cancer.
02:02And then you have other celebrities, really big celebrities like Ryan Reynolds.
02:05And they're showing how to get a colonoscopy live in their social media or on TV or in movies.
02:13And so what are some signs that people can look out for?
02:19Yeah, sure.
02:20First of all, thank you for sharing that very personal tidbit with your audience.
02:24That's I really appreciate that you're willing to share that.
02:26Um, so yes, there are signs and symptoms of more advanced cancers, like bleeding, pain, vomiting.
02:35But I don't want people to worry too much about the signs or symptoms.
02:38I really want to stress that anyone asymptomatic should get screened.
02:43By the time you're waiting for those signs and symptoms, it's probably too late.
02:47And something that we could have prevented, we'll probably miss the boat on that.
02:52So I think of colon cancer screening, you know, the word is screening, right?
02:54We're screening for cancer.
02:56The idea is if we find a cancer early enough, we intervene, right?
03:00We have that cancer addressed immediately before it becomes a major problem in your life.
03:04But our techniques have improved so much over the past decade that we're not just screening
03:08for colon cancer.
03:09We're really preventing colon cancer.
03:11So for example, there are, there's a benign growth of non-cancerous growth called colon polyps
03:18and polyps are kind of the precursors of cancer over about 10 years, polyps turn into colon
03:23cancer.
03:24And what we can do now with our advanced techniques, our better technology of colonoscopy is we can
03:28fully remove those polyps and prevent them from even having the chance to turn into colon
03:32cancer.
03:33And as gastroenterologists, we do that every day.
03:36And so that's just another reason that everyone should be screened.
03:40So something else I want to mention is patients who have a family history of colon cancer, particularly
03:46if you have a first degree relative.
03:48So this is a parent or a sibling that has colon cancer or had colon cancer.
03:53You want to start your screening early.
03:54And by early, we mean starting at an age of 40 years old or 10 years prior to the other
04:00person's diagnosis, whichever one comes first.
04:03So if somebody was diagnosed in your family at 45, meaning a first degree relative, then
04:07you want to start at 35.
04:09And so that's enhanced rating.
04:10We don't usually do that for grandparents or aunts and uncles, unless there's like a
04:16very strong family history of multiple people that have colon cancer.
04:19Well, Nicole, I have someone to add to that list of people who have talked about it.
04:23Steve Morrison from the Preston and Steve show is very vocal in his diagnosis.
04:28He was caught, he caught his colon cancer very, very early.
04:31It was from a PSA test and he will shout it from the rooftops about his treatment and how
04:38easy it was and likes to go out and talk about it.
04:40And I think that's the biggest thing is just talking about it.
04:44For some reason, it has just been a topic that people don't like to speak about.
04:48It's a private thing for some folks and you respect that, but we're not doing any good for
04:53anybody else if we do keep it to ourselves.
04:56So that's why I like to share that.
04:58Correct.
04:59Now, Dr. Schneider, are there any other colon cancer screening options besides a colonoscopy?
05:06Yeah, I'd be happy to talk about that.
05:07I just want to bring up, you mentioned that some people are scared to talk about it or
05:10scared to go through with it.
05:11And I like to pitch that in a couple of different ways.
05:14First is, it's one thing to be scared of like a colonoscopy or scared of a screen test,
05:20but the cancer that you can get if you don't get screened is so much worse.
05:24Like if you only knew what people went through who wish they had had the colonoscopy, you
05:27would choose to get screened.
05:29And the second thing is, you know, maybe people are shy and they don't want to talk about their
05:32butt.
05:33The colonoscopy is I am going starting in the anus.
05:35I'm going starting at the butt and looking through the entire colon.
05:38But you're asleep for that.
05:39And you don't remember.
05:41And there's no shame.
05:42And we do this every day.
05:42You know, we do this 10, 15, 20 times a day.
05:44We're not remembering what your butt looks like.
05:46So don't worry.
05:48And yeah, so that's that's what you see.
05:51You see one.
05:52Yeah.
05:53And you know what?
05:54It's not necessarily being scared.
05:56It's embarrassed.
05:58People don't like talking about the topic.
05:59It's taboo.
06:00But here we are learning about it.
06:03I'm glad.
06:03I'm glad you are both making it less taboo.
06:05So I'm honored to be here with you.
06:07Absolutely.
06:08Yes.
06:08Let's talk about our butts and colds.
06:11Besides the colonoscopy, there's some new technology that people have been using.
06:16Could you just elaborate on that a little bit?
06:18Yeah, absolutely.
06:19So colonoscopy is is the test of choice from my perspective because of that prevention element.
06:25You can remove the polyps and prevent the sequence of turning into cancer.
06:29But there are stool based tests.
06:31There are some other ones that I won't get into.
06:32But I think your real options are between a colonoscopy or a stool based test.
06:36So what a stool based test is, is basically you're you're taking a sample of your poop
06:40and either putting it on a card and sending that card back to your doctor or bring it to
06:43your doctor's office.
06:45And your doctor is going to look at that card and develop it looking for blood.
06:49And so blood in the colon is kind of a sign of a larger polyp or even a small cancer that
06:54could be bleeding.
06:55And that's the first test that people do in their doctor's office.
06:58That's called a fit test.
06:59And a fit test is something that you would do once a year annually in order to prevent
07:04colon cancer or or I would say in order to screen diagnosed colon cancer at an early stage.
07:10And it's a good test.
07:12All of these are good tests because the best test is the test that gets done.
07:15Right.
07:16If you diagnose colon cancer, even if it's on a stool based test, like we're finding
07:19it, we're, we're, we're getting in there and we're, and we're making a difference.
07:22The value of, of the fit test is some people just don't want to do the colonoscopy.
07:27So this is a non-invasive way to screening.
07:28Um, there's also a commercial product that's called fit and stool DNA.
07:32So it's both looking for blood in your stool and also cancer cells.
07:36You might see this on TV.
07:37There's a common product called Cologuard.
07:39I get no endorsement from Cologuard, but I don't know if I'm allowed to say it.
07:42Um, but it Cologuard is advertising a lot.
07:45And what they do is they collect a sample of your stool.
07:46You send it back to them and then they actually check for both blood and pre-cancer cells.
07:52Um, and you would do Cologuard every three years compared to the fit testing, which is
07:56done one year, but compare that to colonoscopy, you know, people think, oh, maybe that's
08:00easier than colonoscopy, but a colonoscopy, if you have a normal colonoscopy, it gets you
08:03at least 10 years.
08:05So you can go for 10 years, worry-free that you're not going to have colon cancer and
08:09add the preventative value.
08:10That's really where colonoscopy shines.
08:12Yeah.
08:13I think you really need to realize that about how important it is removing the polyps that
08:18when you get the colonoscopy, it's an in and out procedure.
08:20You're not overnight in the hospital.
08:22And the fact that you're able to, and you're asleep, right?
08:25You're, and so it's a very easy, it's a very easy process.
08:30Although we won't put this in, but I have to add it to you.
08:33Cause my mom's always like the worst part about it is drinking that junk the day before.
08:37We should talk about it.
08:39That's, that's like so many people's concerns.
08:41We have what's called a fast track program at Virtua.
08:44So a fast track means people just call my office number.
08:47They meet with a coordinator who schedules them for the procedure, goes over the clean out
08:51instructions.
08:52And some people just want to meet with me because they want to talk about the prep.
08:54They've heard about this prep, the clean out and how difficult it would be.
08:58And sure, that's probably the worst part for most people.
09:01So just to give you a sense of what a standard prep looks like is the day before the procedure,
09:05people stay on a clear liquid diet.
09:07So they can still go to work.
09:08They can go about their day.
09:09They're just not eating solid food.
09:10So some people might be a little hangry, but it's not the worst, right?
09:14Then you get to like five, six o'clock, you start drinking the solution.
09:17There are many different preps.
09:19We use kind of like a Miralax, a polyethylene glycol over the counter solution where you
09:23start drinking it.
09:24You drink, it's a whole thing.
09:25It's like, I give people a whole bottle of Miralax, two liters of Gatorade, and I have
09:28them drink about half of that the night before the procedure.
09:31And they're going to have diarrhea.
09:33Usually only lasts for a couple hours.
09:34It's not so bad.
09:35You still usually get most of a night's sleep that night.
09:38And then you wake up early in the morning and you drink the other half of the solution.
09:41This is just my, this is my prep instructions.
09:44Everyone does it a little bit differently.
09:46And people are always worried like, oh, am I going to have diarrhea on the way to getting
09:49the colonoscopy?
09:50And really, really they don't.
09:51There's actually data.
09:52People have studied this and most people don't even have to make a bathroom trip on the way.
09:55Very rarely do people have to make one trip.
09:58So yeah, if the prep, if the prep is your concern, I hear you.
10:02It's reasonable to be concerned, but it's totally worth it to save you from colon cancer.
10:07So don't let it hold you back.
10:08We do a lot sillier things to, you know, do a quick diet or something like that.
10:13And that's just to, you know, take a photo or whatever.
10:16This is to save your life.
10:17So there you go, folks.
10:19I totally.
10:22Well, then on top of those easy instructions, Virtua makes it easy because you have a great
10:26GI team with lots of offices and locations that people can just call up or go to
10:30Virtua.org slash gut health.
10:34That's G-U-T-H-E-A-L-T-H.
10:37And they make it easy for you.
10:40So easy.
10:40They make it super easy.
10:42It's really, it's really a very well-oiled machine where if you call, they will navigate
10:46you all the way to the procedure.
10:48And if you forget the number, you can also just do a quick web search, Virtua GI or Virtua
10:52Gastroenterology.
10:53But I want to encourage everybody, even if you don't come to Virtua, just go talk to your
10:55doctor, get screened.
10:56It doesn't have to be by me or my partners.
10:57We just want you to get screened anyway.
11:00And really quick that the new, you, if you're over 45, you don't even have to come into the
11:05office, right?
11:05You could just fast track right to the colonoscopy.
11:08Yeah, exactly.
11:08Fast track.
11:09So you call and they'll, they'll go over scheduling.
11:12They'll, they'll first do a medical screening to make sure it's appropriate for you to have
11:15a colonoscopy.
11:16If there are any health concerns at all, they'll have you meet with one of us in the office just
11:19to discuss possible concerns about your health or symptoms that you're having.
11:24But the vast majority of the time patients get scheduled when they call, um, they get
11:29a prep, they get the preparation instructions emailed to them or sent to them in our messaging
11:33platform.
11:33They have it already.
11:35Um, and it's like, it's, it's seamless.
11:37And then I meet people on the day of their colonoscopy and I say, welcome to your colonoscopy.
11:41Let's get this done.
11:44Well, thank you for being so open about this.
11:46I mean, obviously it is your area of expertise and this is what you deal with every single day
11:50and talk to these folks, um, but it's nice to just get in front of a camera and to make
11:54people comfortable.
11:54And guys, these are the people who want to save everyone's life.
11:58So follow the instructions, just do it.
12:00Get your colonoscopy, 45 and older, everyone.
12:03It's your time.
12:05Yes.
12:06I agree.
12:07And if you don't want to get a colonoscopy, then ask your doctor for the stool-based testing.
12:11It can still save lives.
12:13Well, great.
12:13Well, thank you everybody.
12:14Uh, virtual.org for all of your gut health and just overall health.
12:19Treat yourself.
12:20Uh, virtual.