Having a doctor send a tube outfitted with a camera up your butt isn’t anyone’s idea of a fun afternoon. But the procedure, better known as a colonoscopy, is the main way adults in the U.S. check to see if cancer may be growing in their large intestine or rectum.
Uncontrolled growths in this part of the digestive tract are the third most fatal cancer in the U.S. At the same time, colonoscopies and other tests can help people and their doctors catch potentially-cancerous bumps and remove them before they become more life-threatening. Research suggests that getting colorectal screenings and having growths cut out can reduce the odds that someone grows cancer in this area and dies from it by about 50 percent.
