Colon Cancer Screening in Texas

Patients should ask their provider at Texas Digestive Disease Consultants about when to go in for colon cancer screening and which tests to have. Any of the exams listed below might be suggested for a colorectal cancer screening:

• Flexible sigmoidoscopy: This method employs a sigmoidoscope to look at the inner lower colon and rectum. A tube roughly as thick as a finger with a camera attached (sigmoidoscope) will enter your rectum so we can get images of the inside wall and some of your colon. The sigmoidoscope can be used to take a biopsy of the tumor or polyp or to extract some polyps. However, a colonoscopy needs to be done to view the whole colon and extract all tumors or polyps. This procedure is relatively safe, but there is a slight chance of the bowel tearing, bleeding, and/or becoming infected.
• Colonoscopy: A colonoscope is somewhat like a sigmoidoscope, but it is longer and is used to view the inside of the entire colon. It is snaked through the rectum, giving our GI specialist a full view of the colon on our computer system. GI tools can be introduced into the colonoscope to take a biopsy and remove polyps. A form of sedation will be required. There is a small chance of bowel tearing, bleeding, and/or infection after the procedure.
• Virtual colonoscopy: This is a CT scan of the colon. You will be asked to lie on the treatment table, where our CT scanner will take images of the colon. This is a noninvasive technique and does not require you to be sedated. If we find any abnormalities, a colonoscopy will have to be performed to remove the tumors or polyps.
• Double-contrast barium enema: A small tube will be placed into the rectum to pump barium sulfate — a white, chalky liquid — into your colon along with air. The barium suspension will line the outer walls of the colon. X-ray images of the colon will then be taken to showcase abnormalities on the inner wall of the colon. If abnormalities are found, a colonoscopy will need to be done to remove the tumors or polyps.
• Fecal tests: These are performed with a fecal sample and are completely safe. These tests might not give confirmatory results but could suggest abnormalities in the GI tract, warranting further testing. A colonoscopy will need to be performed if the results suggest cancerous growths in your colon. Our Texas gastroenterologists conduct three different types of fecal tests:
  • Fecal immunochemical tests, which can detect hidden blood through a certain immunochemical reaction of protein.
  • Fecal occult blood tests, which use a chemical reaction that can detect blood in your feces that might normally be invisible to the eye.
  • Stool DNA tests, which identify specific abnormal DNA genes in the cells shed from cancerous outgrowth or polyps in a stool sample.