National Colon Cancer Screening Day
We mentioned earlier this week that March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
But there’s also a specific day dedicated to the disease and the way to test for it.
Friday is National Colon Cancer Screening Day.
Dr. Jim Surrell of Marquette General Digestive and Liver Specialists says a major study of the disease has come out of Austria within the last year.
It involved 50,000 people who’d had colonoscopies and who did not have any cancer symptoms.
Thirty-five percent of them had polyps.
Dr. Surrell says that although the most common scenario for someone who develops colon cancer is to not have any symptoms, there are still some things worth watching out for.
If there are any symptoms, they often include stomach cramps that don’t go away, rectal bleeding or changes in bowel habits.
Marquette General Family Medicine has free colorectal screening kits available all this month for any patients age 55 and older.