Argumentative Essay On Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States. (Tinmouth, Przybysz, Lewis, & Rabeneck, 2011) In most cases, colon cancer is developed from a benign adenomatous polyp; screening program has been found as an effective way in the reduction of colon cancer, by identifying and removing pre-symptomatic lesions. (Quintero, & Parra-Blanco, 2007)

Before looking into whether CT colonoscopy should be used as a screening tool for patients with a family history of colon cancer, understanding how family history plays a part in the risk of developing colon cancer is important. According to Bowel Cancer Australia, about 75% of people who develop colon cancer does not have any family history of colon cancer. However, about 25% of colon
(Lefere, Gryspeerdt, & Booya, 2006) Studies have suggested the use of optical colonoscopy as a screening method for colon cancer has reduced colon cancer related deaths by about 60 to 70 percent. (Ransohoff, 2009) Optical colonoscopy has the ability to produce real time visualise images within the colon by using an endoscope. Thorough cleansing of the entire colon is necessary prior to the procedure. During optical colonoscopy the physician may remove and/or take tissue samples for further examination and possibly treat any complications that are discovered. ("Optical Colonoscopy: Main Line Health, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania", 2016) However, optical colonoscopy is considered as a high-risk examination, due to the need to anesthetise the patient and also the invasiveness of using an endoscope, which may cause bleeding or perforation of the lining of the colon. Furthermore, optical colonoscopy may fail to detect polyps hidden behind a haustal fold and this could lead to an incomplete colonoscopy, in this setting CT colonoscopy can provide a practical alternative. (Prokop & Galanski,
(Vining et al., 1994) With the advance in CT technology over the past decades, CT colonoscopy has been significantly refined. CT colonoscopy was initially used as a problem-solving tool for patients with inconclusive barium enema results or incomplete colonoscopy. Over the years, researches have been conducted to evaluate the use of CT colonoscopy as a screening tool for colon cancer. Studies have shown with technological advancement in both hardware and software, CT colonoscopy has shown promising result in the detection of colon cancer. Studies have shown that it had high or moderately high per patient and per polyp sensitivity and specificity compared to optical colonoscopy for clinically relevant polyps (>5 mm). (El-Maraghi & Kielar, 2009) CT colonoscopy is considered to be a relatively low risk procedure in comparison to optical colonoscopy due to the non-invasive approach and without the need to anesthetise the patient. (El-Maraghi & Kielar, 2009) The disadvantages of CT colonoscopy is the use of ionising radiation, and unlike optical colonoscopy, CT colonoscopy does not allow the surgeon to remove polyps during the procedure, hence if polyps or abnormal growth are found, an optical colonoscopy will need to be performed to remove them. Furthermore, proper bowel preparation such as cleansing