The Pros & Cons of Colonoscopies

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 135,000 people were diagnosed with colon cancer in 2012 and more than 51,500 people died from it.

Men and women over the age of 50, who are at an average risk of colorectal cancer are typically recommended to get tested by one of three screening tests for colon cancer:
1. Fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) on an annual basis, to check for signs of blood in your stool
2. Flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years
3. Colonoscopy every 10 years

The Cologuard test is a relatively new non-invasive screening tool. Cologuard has been recently approved by the FDA, Medicare, as well as many other insurance companies. It is a stool test that tests for the DNA of cancer cells. Medicare allows this test to be done every 3 years.

Most doctors still recommend colonoscopies, but it important to examine the benefits and drawbacks of all options.

Colonoscopies are advantageous because if there are polyps that need to be removed or areas that need to be biopsied, both can be done at the time of the colonoscopy.

The Side Effects & Drawbacks of Colonoscopies:

As noted in the video that you can see by clicking on the link below, about 1 in every 350 colonoscopies end up doing serious harm. The death rate from colonoscopies is about one in a thousand.

With about 15 million colonoscopies being done each year in the U.S., about 15,000 Americans die annually as a result of this “routine” procedure.

Sigmoidoscopies tend to have 10 times fewer complications, yet most doctors still recommend a colonoscopy nearly 95% of the time.
Other developed countries favor the fecal occult blood test (FOBT), which tests the stool.

Other complications from colonoscopies can include:

1. Perforation of the colon -people at higher risk include those with diverticulitis, diseases of the colon, and adhesions from pelvic surgery.
2. Dysbiosis and other gut imbalances - caused by the process of flushing out your intestinal tract before the procedure with harsh laxatives. Depopulating the beneficial bacterial in the colon, can impact digestion, immunity and depression.
3. Complications from the anesthesia - Include; temporary mental confusion, lung infections, stroke and heart attack.
4. A risk of exacerbating hemorrhoids
5. Infections caused by improperly disinfected scopes - The scopes are not disposable, so they must be sterilized between each use.

When Getting a Colonoscopy, Make Sure Peracetic Acid Was Used to Clean the Scope:

According to Lewis, a retired whistleblower microbiologist with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), about 80% of endoscopes are soaked “clean” using a 2% Cidex (glutaraldehyde) solution for 10 to 15 minutes. According to Lewis, this procedure does NOT properly sterilize the scope. The result is potentially allowing the transfer of infectious material from one patient into another. There is an air/water channel in the scope where there is the greatest risk of contamination. According to Lewis, this disinfection procedure simply isn’t sufficient and the air/water channel could still be contaminated. As a result, this contaminated material can get flushed out into subsequent patients.

According to the link below, the proper sterilization procedure should be with peracetic acid.

Lewis launched a university study, in which he examined and collected samples from the internal channels, the air/water channels and the biopsy channels of the scopes used for colonoscopies.

He then tested various ways of disinfecting the equipment. He discovered that the scope in a 2% glutaraldehyde solution (Cidex), for 10 to 15 minutes did not clean out the internal channels. In fact, Lewis demonstrated that you can submerge those devices for two hours and there’s still infectious material, such as HIV, trapped inside those internal channels.

What’s worse, he discovered that not only does Cidex not sterilize the devices, it actually complicates the problem, because glutaraldehyde works like formaldehyde and preserves the tissue, allowing the trapped material to build up over time.

About 20% of flexible endoscopes in the U.S. are cleaned with peracetic acid between patients rather than Cidex. Peracetic acid, which is similar to vinegar, is used in organic chemistry labs to dissolve proteins and according to Lewis, it does a FAR better job than glutaraldehyde.
One reason that clinics still use glutaraldehyde is because it’s cheaper.

This is a list of good questions that you can ask:
1. How is the endoscope cleaned between patients?
2. Specifically, which cleaning agent is used?
3. What percentage of your colonoscopy patients have had to be hospitalized due to infections?

If the hospital or clinic uses peracetic acid, your likelihood of contracting an infection from a previous patient is very slim. If the answer is glutaraldehyde, or the brand name Cidex, which is what about 80% of clinics use, you may want to consider another colonoscopy center.

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