Preventive Colonoscopy (Screening Colonoscopy)
A colonoscopy is an examination of the entire colon (large intestine) using a long, thin, flexible tube (colonoscope) with a camera on the tip. The most common goal is an effort to prevent colon cancer. Without any screening colonoscopy, about one in twenty people will develop colon cancer.
A preventive colonoscopy (sometimes referred to as a screening colonoscopy) is performed on a patient who is asymptomatic (no gastrointestinal symptoms either past or present), is 50 years of age or older, or has no personal or family history of colon polyps and/or colon cancer.
For more information on colonoscopies visit the National Institutes for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ Colonoscopy webpage.
