Additional Background:
Since the 1990s, the rate of colorectal cancer has more than doubled among adults younger than 50, according to the National Cancer Institute. Not only that, but more younger people are now dying from the disease.
This rapid increase is especially puzzling because the rate of colorectal cancer has plummeted among older adults.
One reason could be that while Baby Boomers have come to accept the need for regular colonoscopies – thank you Katie Couric – Generation X has been a bit more reluctant to get screened.
“Although a colonoscopy is considered the “gold standard” for colon cancer screening, it’s one of those things that people really dread,” says Rosario Ligresti, M.D., chief, Division of Gastroenterology at Hackensack University Medical Center.
But now, there are some new options Dr. Ligresti says scientists have been working on new options. In honor of Colon Cancer Awareness Month, which starts Tuesday, March 1, Dr. Ligresti can talk about some of the new screening choices that may make colon cancer screening easier, faster and in some ways, more pleasant for patients.