In Poland, 30 people die of colorectal cancer every day, and the number of people who undergo preventive examinations for this disease is very low. Meanwhile, as experts of the "Mam Haka na Raka" Programme convince, a colonoscopy examination can protect us from the disease.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in Poland - it ranks second in terms of cancer incidence among women and third among men. In total, it accounts for more than 10% of incidence and deaths in both sexes. This cancer can affect anyone, regardless of age.
Due to low public health awareness, it is very often detected too late. For this reason, the effectiveness of treatment is low. The disease is initially asymptomatic, and risk factors include an unhealthy lifestyle (unhealthy diet, lack of exercise) and genetic predisposition (close family members suffering from cancer). The best prevention of colorectal cancer is a free colonoscopy, which allows early cancerous changes to be detected. The examination can be carried out by anyone over the age of 50 as part of the screening programme of the National Programme for the Control of Cancer. It takes approximately 10 minutes.
Special preparation is required for the colonoscopy: be fasting and take a special bowel laxative the day before. "Colonoscopy is a free examination for which no referral is needed. During the examination, care is taken to maintain the patient's intimacy.
Despite the undoubted advantage of colonoscopy, which is the possibility of saving lives, it is unfortunately not very popular. The biggest obstacle is usually shame and fear of the examination. However, as patients themselves admit after the examination, earlier doubts are unfounded," says Janusz Meder, MD, President of the Polish Cancer Union.
