Colon Cancer Screening And Bacteria in Gut causing Cancer

It is thought that colon cancer begins, in most instances, by a benign polyp that slowly changes over many years, thus the recommendation for a colonoscopy every 10 years after age 50. Fro those with a strong family history, or certain other conditions, and earlier or more frequent schedule is advised.

However, a colonoscopy reimburses the physician well, and even more when a polyp is found or removed. This can be subjective, though many hospitals now require photos. I still recall many years ago when I was on the quality control committee of my hospital when we questioned a physician about his too frequent procedures. When we required him to take photos of his "lesions" and set a 6 month followup, we discovered that he no longer did colonoscopies at our facility!

In a recent study on the possible overuse of colonoscopies (J Gen Intern Med 2015 Mar 30:277) Boston researchers used medical record data to examine this issue in 1429 patients who had first screening colonoscopies during a 10-year period (2000–2010). Guidelines recommend repeat colonoscopy at 10 years after a colonoscopy with no polyps, 5 years after detecting low-risk findings,and 3 years after detecting higher-risk polyps. They found that about 30% with negative findings and 50% with low risk polyps had premature repeat colonoscopies. And this does not include those with possible questionable polyps. So be careful and discuss a premature repeat with your physician.

In another study, which correlates with many recent findings, (Bullman S et al. Science 2017 Dec 15), investigators found that from more than 500 cases of colon cancer a fusobacterial DNA (DNA from a specific bacteria)was found in nearly 50% of primary tumors. They found that this same bacterial DNA seemed to also induce tumors in mice. And treating these mice with an antibiotic against this germ decreased tumor size.

It is possible that at least some of human colon cancer may be related to a specific bacteria. Stay tuned for possible screening and treatment..