{"id":2814452,"date":"2022-10-14T10:01:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T14:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/?p=2814452"},"modified":"2022-10-14T10:01:24","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T14:01:24","slug":"colonoscopy-cancer-2814452-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/colonoscopy-cancer-2814452-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts: Don’t skip colonoscopy due to that study in the news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite what you might have seen in the news, colonoscopies remain the best and most proven way to detect cancer and prevent colorectal cancer deaths, say clinicians across the country.<\/p>\n

The controversy stems from a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/em><\/a> on a large Nordic-European clinical trial.<\/p>\n

National news articles covering the study highlighted a finding that colonoscopies only cut the risk of colon cancer by about 18% and didn’t substantially reduce deaths\u2014which is far different than previous multiple studies showing that colonoscopy does, in fact, significantly decrease cancer incidence<\/a> and death. The news articles raised the possibility that the invasive procedure is not worth it.<\/p>\n

However, the trial had a major limitation\u2014within the group of study patients who were supposed to get colonoscopies, only 42% actually got one.<\/p>\n

Not getting screened<\/a> is obviously going to skew the trial results because a person has to get a colonoscopy to receive the benefits of early detection, says Danielle Marino, a gastroenterologist with expertise in colon cancer screenings and medical director of Wilmot Cancer Institute’s Hereditary Cancer Screening and Risk Reduction Program at the University of Rochester.<\/p>\n

Many news articles glossed over this red flag and made claims in headlines that colonoscopies fail to reduce cancer deaths, ignoring important context, according to the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG).<\/p>\n

ACG issued a public statement<\/a> and sent a terse letter<\/a> to CNN, which led the news coverage, calling out the media for doing the public a disservice.<\/p>\n

“No one should cancel their colonoscopies<\/a>,” Marino emphasizes. “This procedure is the best way to prevent colorectal cancer and to detect cancer early, which can lead to improvement in outcomes.”<\/p>\n

Here are some key facts about the study to keep in mind:<\/p>\n