TidalHealth Gastroenterology Works to Combat Colon Cancer

SALSIBURY, Md. – Colon health is at the center of this week’s Health Beat sponsored by TidalHealth.

Colon cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in the world, accounting for about 10 percent of all cancer cases globally. Leading health data estimates that the U.S. will see a total of 147,000 new cases by the end of the year, as it typically impacts one in 24 men and one in 26 women. Yet, if caught early enough, colon cancer is highly treatable.

“Ninety percent of those people that had stage one colon cancer should be surviving. When you talk about stage two, that changes. You’re looking at 75 to 85 percent of people. When you’re looking at stage three, [it’s] somewhere between 53 and 75 percent. So there’s a steep drop there, and then you see an even bigger drop when you get to stage four, which is really 30 to 45 percent in my personal opinion,” says Kevin Forsynth, Nurse Practitioner at TidalHealth Gastroenterology.

Forsynth says that the best way to ensure colon health is by getting your routine colonoscopy, the primary screening tool when it comes to detecting colon cancer, and they can also detect precancerous polyps.

“The way I describe [polyps] to my patients is they’re the seed and colon cancer is the tree. If you leave the seed long enough, eventually it’s going to create this colon cancer tree that we have to end up treating. Removing those polyps is one of the best things you can do to prevent colon cancer,” says Forsynth.

If someone does not want to do a colonoscopy, Forsynth recommends Cologuard, a non-invasive home screening test.

“If my patient’s not going to do a colonoscopy, they said they’re just adamant they’re not going to do it, am I going to recommend they do a Cologuard? Sure. Absolutely. Something’s better than nothing. One important thing to talk about when we talk about Cologuards, though, is that there is the potential for a false positive and a false negative with this test,” Forsynth says.

Factors that would increase your risk include pre-existing conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, a family history of colon cancer, race, obesity, and diet. Things like red meat — lamb, beef, pork or high in processed foods and lunch meats — and having three or more drinks daily right can increase your risk for colorectal cancer. However, regular physical activity would help to reduce your colon cancer risk. Typical daily physical activity should consist of 150 minutes of moderate activity a week.

If you would like to talk to a provider about colon care, there are a couple ways you can go moving forward.

“There’s two ways they can do this with me,” said Forsynth. “We do have MyChart. So if you are somebody that has a MyChart account already, you can make a request to come and see me. If you have other GI complaints, you have to go through a PCP or have a referral from another provider for me first. Everybody thinks they have to have symptoms, and while there are red flag signs for colon cancer, the big important walk away from here today is that you can have no symptoms until colon cancer is in its late stages. That’s why we talk about the regular screening, because you may never know. You may never feel differently until it’s too late to do anything about it.”

Call (410) 912-5640 or visit tidalhealth.org to schedule an appointment today.