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Most people don't want to go through a colonoscopy, where a tube with a tiny camera is snaked up your anus to your intestines to see if there are any suspicious growths there, looking for cancer. Though it is a safe test, most people don't like the idea of it at all.
But colon cancer is a terrible killer here in the US. Everyone over the age of 50 should be screened for it. Colorectal cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.If it's found early it can be cured at a rate of 90%. If the cancer has spread, cure rates fall dramatically.
A new, noninvasive colorectal cancer screening test from Exact Science is now available and supported by the American Cancer Society and other major medical groups. Study results showing that the test is as good as a colonoscopy have been reported in the April 2008 supplement of Gastroenterology.
The new easier test has been approved as effective. The new Exact Science screening test for colorectal cancer tests DNA from a stool sample. The test is more advanced than other stool DNA tests and its accuracy has recently been proven in clinical trials.
Patients perform the test at home, using a kit. The process involves obtaining a stool sample and mailing it to a laboratory for testing.
It couldn't be easier. It's very worth doing it. If it helps one person here, to not have to go through the Hell that my sister is going through now that she is living with metastasized colon cancer -- it is worth talking about here.
Ask your doctor about the test and go do it!
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