Catching Colorectal Cancer

An alarming number of curable cancers are diagnosed at late stages, in spite of widely available accurate screenings.

“People get mammograms, PSAs; those are the more well known things for breast cancer, prostate cancer – but the truth is those detect early cancers. The good news about colonoscopies is that it can actually prevent cancers because technically polyps are the things that grow up to become cancers,” says Dr. Janette Gaw, a colorectal surgeon on Lee Memorial Health System’s medical staff.

Although a colonoscopy is the gold standard for early detection, new reports found over half of all colorectal cancers were not picked up until the disease was past the most easily curable stages.

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