4 ms·
Who even gets colonoscopies anymore? Everyone I know just poops in a box and mails it to a lab nowadays.
by brandonmenc 2y ago
Who even gets colonoscopies anymore?
Everyone I know just poops in a box and mails it to a lab nowadays.
- conception 2y agoPoop in a box detects pretty far along cancer - bleeding into the gut. Colonoscopy finds it a lot sooner.
- pedalpete 2y agoExcept that not enough people are getting colonoscopies, and the cost and time is significantly more (for both the patient and the medical team). In Australia, at 50, everyone is given a poop stick which we send to a lab for results. I think one comes in the mail every 5 years if your previous result was negative.
- anonzzzies 2y agoThen you catch it quite late with current techniques. Hopefully in the near future it will be super accurate and something you can just do at home.
- tzs 2y agoThose tests have a fairly high false positive rates. Hemorrhoids for example can cause a false positive, and are pretty common in people over 50 in the US. Once you get a positive, even a false positive, health providers tend to try to switch you from an annual poop in a box test to whatever the normal colonoscopy schedule is at your age (e.g., every 10 years unless your previous colonoscopy found something that calls for a shorter interval to the next one).
- bitwize 2y agoThose aren't highly accurate. I think they just detect blood in the stool, which could come from one of several causes including simple haemorrhoids. If you pop positive on your ColoGuard you're expected to come in for a colonoscopy.
- 9659 2y agonot blood, but the DNA of cancer cells. really.