Screening may reduce your chances of dying of colorectal cancer, but it also raises your odds of a heart-related death. Furthermore, the Colorectal Cancer Awareness activities inaccurately conveyed the idea that no one will die of this disease, if everyone undergoes screening. All three trials show that this reduction in colorectal cancer deaths is offset by an equal increase in the overall death rate. It is unclear whether sigmoidoscopy is more accurate than the FOBT, but together they produce better results than either test alone, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The screening role for colonoscopy has yet to be determined.
False alarms are part and parcel of all screening activities.
At present, the risk of complications like bleeding, infection, and bowel perforation is rare, but is expected to increase as more sigmoidoscopies and colonoscopies are performed by physicians less expert than those who take part in clinical trials. Sponsors of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month have clearly used breast cancer as the blueprint for their activities, but they seem to be unaware of the fallout from decades of exaggerating the benefit of mammography screening. For years, failure to diagnose early breast cancer on a mammogram has been one of the most common types of medical malpractice lawsuit. Every common form of cancer, including cervical, prostate, and breast, has an aggressive version that is rapidly fatal despite early detection and prompt treatment. The premature death of Ms. Couric's husband is a tragedy to be sure, but her well-intentioned campaign to get all people over forty to be screened could possibly cause more harm than good.