UNDATED (KMOX) — Neither Missouri nor Illinois residents are doing a very good job at getting an important screening test. Both states are in the bottom half of the nation when it comes to colonoscopies.
"Unfortunately, Missouri doesn't do too well. It's 39th out of 50 in terms of the percentage of the population that gets screened," said Dr. Susie Kane, president of the American College of Gastroenterology. "What that means is that only 63 percent of everyone who is eligible in Missouri ends up having a colonoscopy. So the state could do much better in terms of reaching out and getting those folks screened."
The state of Illinois ranks even lower for colonoscopy screenings.
"Illinois is 44th," said Dr. Kane. "So even worse than Missouri. Only 62 percent of those eligible get screened."
Dr. Kane fears Americans aren't doing enough to catch this deadly cancer in its earliest stages.
"Colorectal cancer is the number two cancer killer in the United States," said Dr. Kane. "And one of the most preventable types of cancer there is."
The lifetime risk of getting colorectal cancer is 1 in 23 for men, 1 in 25 for women. There will be more than 145,000 new diagnoses of colorectal cancer this year in the United States. And of the more than 51,000 people expected to die of colorectal cancer this year, screening could save more than half of them.
"You should have a colonoscopy starting at age 50 if you don't have any other risk factors," said Dr. Kane. "If you are African American, you should start getting screening colonoscopies at age 45 because being African American alone puts you at greater risk for getting cancer and dying of it."
So what about all those in home colon cancer stool sample tests? Are they any good?
"When my patients ask me about what is appropriate for them, I try to convince them that the best test is a colonoscopy because I can help prevent polyps from turning into a cancer," said Dr. Kane. "The other stool tests are very good for finding abnormalities that are already causing problems within the colon."
March is National Colorectal Cancer Month. For more information, visit the American College of Gastroenterology's website.