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Texas native Jakki Newton keeps active with family, work and hobbies. A Frisco resident, she loves NASCAR, concerts and going to the beach. She also makes time to visit her primary care doctor for annual checkups — especially now that she’s seen firsthand how important those routine checks are.
During her checkup at age 50, Jakki’s doctor suggested that she have a colon cancer screening. Because Jakki didn’t have any symptoms or a family history of the condition, she was prescribed a stool test that she could do at home.
“It was recommended because I had such a low chance of anything being positive,” Jakki says. “I have to admit, I let the test sit for a little while. But with encouragement from my husband, I finally did it.”
Deciding when to start screening
According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, people with an average risk should consider having their first colon cancer screening at age 45. This age was lowered in recent years due to a rise in cases among younger people.
“The age has previously been 50, but we’ve been finding many patients have large polyps or cancer sooner,” says Suvin Banker, D.O., chair of the division of gastroenterology and medical director of endoscopy at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Centennial. “We’re catching more of these at age 45.”
For those who have a family history of colorectal cancer, guidelines say to start screening even earlier — at age 40 or 10 years earlier than the family member’s age at diagnosis. People with a family history of colon polyps should also talk to their doctor to see if earlier screening is right for them. GI symptoms, including constipation, diarrhea and bleeding, warrant a visit to the doctor as well.
The most recommended screening for colon cancer is a colonoscopy. For some, an at-home stool test like the one Jakki used is also an option. Stool tests can help identify people at risk for colon cancer or polyps by measuring antibodies or DNA. According to Banker, it detects about 42% of polyps and 90% of cancers.
“The stool test certainly has a role in cancer screening in the average-risk individual,” Banker says. “I would use it with caution because it misses large polyps about 58% of the time and misses cancer in 1 out of 10 people. But some screening is better than no screening.”
Stopping cancer before it starts
Several weeks after Jakki mailed her at-home screening test to the lab, she got a call that her results were positive. Her next step was to have a colonoscopy; she scheduled her procedure at Baylor Scott & White – Centennial for just a week later. “I had this shocking positive test, and my mind was running the gamut,” she says.
When she woke up from her colonoscopy, the first thing she asked was how everything went. To her surprise, she was told a 35 mm polyp — almost an inch and a half in diameter — was found during the procedure. Any polyp over 20 mm is considered large.
The pathology results from the polyp came back as abnormal, meaning it wasn’t yet colon cancer, but it had advanced to pre-cancerous.
Because of the polyp’s size and its abnormal cells, Jakki was scheduled for an additional colonoscopy. She had her follow-up procedure a couple of months later to make sure all of the 35 mm polyp had been removed and to remove another small polyp.
“Colonoscopy is an important tool because it’s the only test that can both screen and prevent,” Banker says. “It helps us prevent cancer by removing polyps.”
Making prevention a priority
Now, Jakki is back to everyday life — with the confidence that she has the resources she needs to stay well. Because of her polyps, she’ll have follow-up checks, including another screening at one year. She is grateful she chose to get screened and thankful for procedures like colonoscopy that gave her a way to stop polyps from turning into something serious.
“While it was a stressful time with a lot of unknowns, it is still way less than what I would be experiencing a year from now if I had ignored my doctors and had a full colon cancer diagnosis,” she says. “I’m grateful we have modern medicine that allowed us to catch this.”
According to Banker, finding a colon polyp during a colonoscopy in a person at age 50 or younger is common. In an average-risk individual at age 45, there’s about a 30-50% chance of having a pre-cancerous polyp. That’s why he encourages people to talk to their doctor and have this important preventive screening.
“The more you put it off, the more there’s a chance of a larger polyp or cancer,” Banker says. “Waiting will only make polyps bigger and more difficult to remove, and there’s a chance for them to convert to cancer.”
Even if screening does lead to a cancer diagnosis, advancements in care and early detection mean colorectal cancer is often a very treatable condition. Cancers that are caught before they spread are usually treated with surgery to remove the cancer without the need for other treatments.
Along with Banker, Jakki also advocates for others to ask their doctor about the screenings they need. While people have many reasons for putting off colon cancer screening — from busy schedules to hesitation about colonoscopy prep — she says taking time to check on her health was well worth it.
“It’s common to avoid a screening because of fear,” she says. “I’ve told my family members who have not done it to go and get tested.”
To learn more about colorectal cancer screenings, visit BSWHealth.com/ColonCancer.
Physicians provide clinical services as members of the medical staff at one of Baylor Scott & White Health’s subsidiary, community or affiliated medical centers and do not provide clinical services as employees or agents of those medical centers or Baylor Scott & White Health.