Preventive medical checkup
The costs of preventive colonoscopy have been covered by health insurance companies for high-risk patients in Germany since 2002. The group of risk patients includes persons aged 55 years and older; in special cases, with family history, also persons aged 35 years and older. If the result of the examination is inconspicuous, the next preventive examination in the form of a colonoscopy is carried out after 10 years at the earliest.
However, if symptoms occur during this period, you should not wait for the next appointment, but contact the doctor directly. From the age of 50, a blood stool test can be taken and performed every two years for review. In order to detect colon cancer in good time, each person should take part in appropriate preventive measures on their own responsibility, because the earlier the tumour is detected, the more likely it is that the cancer will be completely cured.
Risk factors
The development of colon cancer can be influenced by various factors. If a person is affected by one or more of these factors, he or she must pay particular attention to signs of cancer or visit the doctor regularly for check-ups. One of the most important factors are so-called intestinal polyps, newly formed bulges of the intestinal wall, which often degenerate into intestinal tumours.
It is not possible to detect them, but they can usually be found and removed easily during a colonoscopy. Chronic diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease also favour the development of intestinal cancer. However, these mostly inherited diseases are only part of the risk factors acquired through genetic predisposition.
If there is or has been a history of cancer in a direct family relationship, descendants are three times more likely to suffer from a corresponding disease than the average person. An incorrect diet also places a burden on the intestinal tract. Many calories, fat and meat as well as little fibre probably promote the development of intestinal tumours.
So far, absolute proof has not been provided, but there are many parallels between diet and intestinal health. The associated lifestyle plays an important role here – those who eat a lot of fatty food usually do not exercise and are often overweight, i.e. they strain their gastrointestinal tract day after day. Increased alcohol consumption, combined with the lifestyle described above, can also be an indicator of intestinal cancer.
Age is an unalterable risk factor, which may explain the rising incidence of the disease: People in industrialized countries are enjoying ever better health care and are therefore getting older and older – the chances of degenerating intestinal tissue are increasing, and with it the chances of newly occurring intestinal cancer. To prevent various types of cancer, including intestinal tumours, everyone should be advised not to smoke. Smoking significantly increases the risk of developing cancer and is a factor that everyone can control and change.
