Northside Hospital Cherokee is bringing awareness to a commonly overlooked cancer with a giant inflatable colon at the hospital this week.
March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States.
The display shows an up-close view of what a physician may find when performing a colonoscopy screening on a patient, with various stages of diagnosis. It begins with healthy tissue and escalates in severity through Crohn's disease, cancer polyps, malignant polyps and advanced colon cancer.
"Being aware of what your body is going through and what tendencies to look for is one of the best lines of defense that we have when it comes to cancer risk," said Brett Kneisel, a community health advocate at Northside.
Dr. Aparna Shreenath, who has worked with Northside Cherokee as a gastroenterologist for a year, advises that people above the age of 45 should schedule a screening to catch any polyps before they develop into a cancerous mass. Abdominal pain and changes in stool are some symptoms that may suggest abnormalities with colon tissue.
"Ideally, we want to screen them routinely, before they start having these problems," Shreenath said.
Polyps can be removed at the time of the colonoscopy, but advanced stages of cancer may require surgery or chemotherapy. Crohn's disease, also displayed in the inflatable, is a lifelong autoimmune disease that requires lifestyle changes and regular colon check-ups.
"Just in this year, they estimate that about 150,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer and about 50,000 people will die from it," Shreenath said. Regular healthy lifestyle habits, like including more vegetables and limiting meat in diets, are advised to help prevent diagnosis.
To schedule a screening, a patient can make an appointment with no referral from a primary care physician. For those with preexisting conditions, an appointment with the clinic must be made before the colonoscopy.
There are other ways to get screened besides a colonoscopy, but this modality of screening is considered the "gold standard," according to Shreenath. There can be a 10-year gap between screenings.
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