There are many people who are athletes, dancers, performs, etc., who lead completely normal lives with colostomies. I want to dispel that concern before I answer the question. Having said that, it would be helpful for me to review with you what our colon and rectum do. The colon and rectum are organs that exist in order to package waste for convenient elimination. They have a small role in absorbing water but no significant role in nutrient absorption.
People live normal lives without their colons.
The risk of immunosuppression that would be required in order to successfully transplant a colon is entirely unacceptable, and therefore, not even considered. There have been some studies trying to measure these markers in patients' blood. However, the sensitivity and specificity of these markers are not sufficient to be used for population screening. There is some additional, exciting work being done looking for the mutations that lead to colon cancer by looking at colon cells found in feces. In the future, it may be possible to look for these mutations in a small stool sample, and when they're found, then perform additional diagnostic tests to identify the polyps or cancers.