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Article: Routine sigmoidoscopy may miss over half of colon cancers.
- Article from:
- Medical Update
- Article date:
- November 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In a report at the 95th Annual Convention of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons in Seattle this past June, Philip H. Gordon, M.D. noted that over half of colon cancers are beyond the reach of the flexible sigmoidoscope used in routine office screening. Sigmoidoscopy has been recommended widely for people over 50 as a routine screening exam for colon cancer-but but a dramatic shift has occurred recently in the distribution of cancer from the left side of the colon to the right.
Sigmoidoscopy involves the insertion of a thin lighted instrument, the sigmoidoscope, into the rectum to inspect the lining of the colon (the large intestine). Because the ...