Ulcerative Colitis

About 55,170 deaths are expected due to colorectal cancer this year.Source: American Cancer Society By IN-SUNG YOOThe News Journal 03/28/2006 Let's not beat around the bush: No one gets a colonoscopy for fun.

There's no end to the number of things we'd rather be doing than having a long, flexible tube inserted into our rectums and probing around our innards.

Sandra K.

Lehman certainly wasn't skipping on the way to her colonoscopy last May.

But after finding blood in her stool earlier in the year, the 65-year-old Bethany Beach resident had little choice.

When she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, Lehman kicked herself for letting her unfounded fears about the screening procedure keep her from getting it done earlier.

Colorectal cancer is among the most preventable cancers, said Dr.

Richard Caruso, of Seaside Gastroenterology Consultants in Lewes.

When small growths in the colon, called polyps, are detected before they turn cancerous, the disease can be avoided.

When polyps are caught in ...

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