
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992                   TAG: 9203050042
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short

STUDY: TEST CAN REDUCE COLON CANCER DEATHS

Doctors could lower the death rate from colon and rectal cancer by 30 percent if they checked all older Americans once every 10 years with widely available viewing scopes, a study concludes.

Many health organizations already recommend routine use of this exam, known as sigmoidoscopy. However, some experts disagree, and the new research is the first carefully conducted study to show that it actually saves lives.

"We now have clear-cut evidence of a very substantial reduction in mortality risk associated with screening," said Dr. Joe V. Selby, who directed the study at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, Calif. The results were published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Using the scope, doctors and nurses can see ominous growths in the colon and rectum before they become cancerous. Removal of these growths, called polyps, eliminates the cancer risk.

The exam costs about $100 to $200 and is now performed on about one in five older Americans.

Doctors say the biggest drawback to the exam - and the reason many people avoid it - is its discomfort. The slender viewing tube, inserted through the anus, can produce a feeling similar to severe abdominal cramps as it navigates turns in the bowel.

Selby recommended that everyone get this test at about age 50 and have it repeated once a decade.

by CNB