Polishprince
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- Jun 8, 2016
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Good. Cologuard is great for people who will not undergo colonoscopies. It may not be the very best but it's a lot better than nothing and the preps for a colonoscopy are really miserable.That's good info, I had heard colon wall tears were much more frequent than 1 in 500. I do cologuard or equivalent kits every two years. I'm sure my PCP will give me an earful when I see him for being so late for colonscopy.During a colonoscopy, the doctor inserts a colonoscope into your rectum to check for abnormalities in your entire colon.Thanks for the thorough response. I had a colonoscopy over 10 years ago and am 'overdue' for the follow up. I have read that there are possibilities of problems with the procedure itself, nicking the colon causing infections etc. They also don't examine the entire colon whereas the occult blood tests essentially do.Anytime a cologuard which should be repeated every 3 years is inconclusive or it indicates a pre-cancerous polyp, or cancerous polyp then you need a colonoscopy. In my book, it's better have colonoscopy and you can be done with it for 10 years.
Colonoscopy - Mayo Clinic
As the saying goes, there are possible complications that can occur with any procedure. With a colonoscopy there's a chance of a complication in 1 in every 500 procedures. A tear in the rectum wall is one of them and probably the most serious but it's extremely rare.
Do you know the risks of a colonoscopy?
My main concern with colorguard is it's inability to detect pre-cancerous polyps (only 42%). However, if you repeat it every 3 years and it detects a cancer, it will be in an early stage which is usually easy to treat.
One other consideration is that you are likely to get a false positives over a period of years usage. Then you will need a colonoscopy.
BTW, colon tears are a lot less than 1 in 500.
The prep for a colonoscopy is much less horrible now than a decade ago.
Maybe I'll go for another. I had one 12 or 13 years ago. It was really annoying to prep for.