Shorter Test Cuts Colon Cancer Deaths

A brief test that looks only at the lower colon and rectum could sharply reduce deaths from colorectal cancer, a new study finds. The British study included 170,000 people. They were randomly divided into two groups. One group received a test called a sigmoidoscopy. The other group did not. This test uses a flexible tube with a camera, also called a flexi-scope. The tube is inserted into the colon to look inside. People who received the test got it once, in their 50s or early 60s. In the next 11 years, colorectal cancer rates were one-third lower for people who got the test than for people who did not get it. Their chances of dying from this cancer were reduced by nearly half, 43%. Researchers said the sigmoidoscopy took about five minutes. Another test, a colonoscopy, takes longer and costs more. It looks at the whole colon.