Medical Specialty Clinic
Medical Specialty Clinic, at 27 Medical Center Drive, is a multi-specialty clinic offering care in gastroenterology, cardiology, dermatology, oncology/hematology, and pulmonology/critical care medicine. Call 731-424-1001 or 800-221-9603.
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Guidelines for getting a colonoscopy depend on whether you are at average risk or at increased risk of getting colon cancer.
• For most people, their first colonoscopy should be at age 50. If nothing is found, they won’t need another colonoscopy for 10 years. If precancerous polyps are found, screenings are recommended every three to five years.
• People at increased risk for colon cancer should have earlier and more frequent tests, based on their doctor’s advice. These include people who have symptoms, longstanding inflammatory bowel disease, a personal history of polyps, or who have a first-degree relative (father, mother, sibling) with a history of polyps or colon cancer.
Endoscopy Center offers convenience
Other stories with our doctors
Screenings can prevent colon cancer
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| Dr. Michael Ibach, a gastroenterologist at Medical Specialty Clinic, talks to patient Larry Bratcher. |
Unfortunately, says Dr. Michael Ibach, it’s the unfounded fear or embarrassment of having that screening – a colonoscopy – that prevents most people from finding out if they have the easily treatable precancerous polyps. “We need to get beyond the social reluctance of having a colonoscopy,” he says. “The procedure itself is very safe and painless.”
A colonoscopy is also the best way physicians have today to detect precancerous polyps in the rectum and colon that can turn into cancer, says Dr. Ibach, a board-certified gastroenterologist at Medical Specialty Clinic.
A colonoscopy involves placing a long, flexible tube with a light on it into the entire large colon so the physician can detect any problems. Though the test sounds uncomfortable, the patient is given a sedation to feel relaxed and sleepy. The outpatient procedure usually takes only 30 minutes.
The most unpleasant part of the test could be the preparation the night before when patients have to drink a liquid solution to clean out their colon, Dr. Ibach says.
During the procedure, the physician will remove any polyps (or growths) in the colon. Over a period of several years, a polyp can become cancerous. The polyp is then tested by a pathologist to see if it is cancerous or precancerous and to determine whether the patient needs further treatment and/or surgery.
When colon cancer is confined to the colon, it is 90 percent curable, often with surgery alone.
“Colon cancer is so preventable because it starts as a polyp that can be removed,” Dr. Ibach says. “Colon cancer is curable if it is caught early enough.”
Colon cancer deaths decreasing
Some 147,000 Americans will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, says the American Cancer Society. About 105,000 of them will have colon cancer; the remaining 42,000 will have rectal cancer. Colon cancer deaths are decreasing because of better treatment and increased screenings.
Everyone should be screened for colon cancer, says Dr. Ibach. Guidelines for getting a colonoscopy depend on whether you are at average risk or at increased risk of getting colon cancer, he adds.
- For most people, their first colonoscopy should be at age 50. If nothing is found, they won’t need another colonoscopy for 10 years. If precancerous polyps are found, screenings are recommended every three to five years.
- People at increased risk for colon cancer should have earlier and more frequent tests, based on their doctor’s advice. These include people who have symptoms, longstanding inflammatory bowel disease, a personal history of polyps, or who have a first-degree relative (father, mother, sibling) with a history of polyps or colon cancer.
Colon cancer symptoms
Symptoms of a colon or rectal problem include blood in the stool, unexplained anemia or weight loss, change in bowel habits and abdominal pain.
“Most of these people won’t have colon cancer, but they need to be checked,” says Dr. Ibach. “Un-fortunately, way too many people put up with symptoms without getting checked. Often they don’t want to know or they don’t want to talk about it.”
The importance of a colonoscopy screening for colon cancer got a boost in recent years when well-known people, such as baseball player Eric Davis got colon cancer and Katie Couric’s 40-year-old husband died of colon cancer and the nationally known newswoman had a colonoscopy on the Today Show.
The colonoscopy process
The process for the colonoscopy begins 48 hours ahead of time when patients take magnesium citrate, a laxative. The day before they can eat only clear liquids, such as Jell-O, soup broth and Gatorade. Then comes drinking a solution to induce bowel movements. The purpose is to make sure there is nothing in the colon when the colonoscopy is done the next day, says Dr. Ibach.
“We’re always looking for alternatives to the liquid solution because we know it’s unpleasant,” he says.
After the colonoscopy, patients can eat right away. They must be driven home because of the sedatives they were given. By the next day, they can resume normal driving and other activities.
Some day, perhaps within the next 10 years, screening for colon cancer will be done with a stool sample and blood test, Dr. Ibach says.
Dr. Ibach practices at Medical Specialty Clinic with gastroenterologists Dr. Charles Hertz, Dr. Robert Hollis and Dr. Dan Kayal. Each performs many colonoscopies each week, he says. “Among the four of us, we find cancer several times a month.”