It may be a result of NBC newswoman Katie Couric s highly personal on-air reports. Nowhere is this trend more evident than at White Plains Hospital Center. Here the growth in demand for colonoscopies has been so pronounced that the Hospital has decided to expand its endoscopy unit. This spring, the Hospital will build a new unit twice its previous size. Physicians want their average-risk patients over age 50 to have a screening colonoscopy, says Robert Fath, MD, of Scarsdale, Chief of the Hospital s Gastroenterology Section.
Colonoscopy is presently the best test available for detecting polyps in the colon.
The link between polyps and colon cancer is a compelling reason to conduct the test. Dr. Fath, who oversees a staff of 40 that includes 18 physicians and a dozen specially trained nurses, says that the demand for screening colonoscopy has skyrocketed over the past year. Certainly Ms. Couric s candor regarding her husband s death from colon cancer, and her own colonoscopy experience as a means of promoting the importance of screening colonoscopy, has heightened public awareness. The expansion of the endoscopy unit, where screening colonoscopy is performed, at White Plains Hospital Center is scheduled to begin this spring, with completion by summer. Currently there are three examination rooms where a total of 30 to 40 colonoscopies are performed each day.