01/09/2023
We want to provide excellent care to our patients and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to receive important, potentially lifesaving screenings, such as colorectal cancer screening. We collaborated with Exact Sciences, in an effort to ease Colorectal Cancer Screening deficiencies, by sending out a batch order of Cologuard kits to all patients of Rainelle Medical Center, its satellite clinics, and specialty offices whose chart does not reflect an up-to-date Colorectal Cancer Screening.
If you received one of these kits, and your screening is not up to date, we ask that you please follow the instructions on the kit by providing a sample and returning it. If your screening is up to date OR you are not interested in completing the screening, you may disregard the kit. Your insurance has NOT been billed and your insurance will NOT be billed unless you return a sample for screening. Preventative screenings are generally covered by most insurance, if you have coverage questions, please contact your insurance.
If you would like to discuss options with your provider before completing this screening, please call us to schedule an appointment with your provider to discuss it.
Colorectal Cancer Screening Information
Colorectal Cancer Screening should be performed starting at age 45.
There are multiple screening options available for Colorectal Cancer such as:
Colonoscopy is the preferred method and should be completed at least every 10 years (Earlier if indicated by your clinician) A colonoscopy is a procedure that lets your health care provider check the inside of your entire colon (large intestine). The procedure is done using a long, flexible tube called a colonoscope. The tube has a light and a tiny camera on one end. It is put in your re**um and moved into your colon.
Sigmoidoscopy should be completed at least every 5 years if another screening option has not been performed. (Earlier if indicated by your clinician) For this test a Doctor puts a short, thin, flexible, lighted tube into your re**um and checks for polyps or cancer inside the re**um and lower third of the colon.
FIT/DNA Kit (Cologuard) should be completed at least every 3 years (Earlier if indicated by your clinician) if another screening option has not been performed. Cologuard is used to detect colorectal cancer associated DNA markers and for the presence of blood in your stool. A positive result may indicate the presence of colorectal cancer or advanced adenoma and should be followed by a diagnostic colonoscopy.
FOBT (F***l Occult Blood Test) should be performed annually if no other screening option has been performed. It is a lab test used to check a small amount of stool for hidden blood. Blood in the stool may indicate colon cancer or polys in the colon or re**um though not all cancers or polyps bleed and not all blood in stool is indicative of cancer.
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but it doesn’t have to be. Colorectal cancer screening saves lives. Screening can find precancerous polyps—abnormal growths in the colon or re**um—that can be removed before they turn into cancer. Screening also helps find colorectal cancer at an early stage, when treatment works best. About nine out of every 10 people whose colorectal cancers are found early and treated appropriately are still alive five years later.
If you are 45 years old or older, get screened now. If you think you may be at increased risk for colorectal cancer, speak with your doctor about when to begin screening, which test is right for you, and how often to get tested.
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/basic_info/
