Get checked for colorectal cancer

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - When it comes to colorectal cancer, early detection can save lives.

Colorectal cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer, but the third-leading cause of cancer deaths. And doctors say many of those fatalities could have been prevented simply by getting checked.

TV personality Sharon Osbourne, co-host of CBS's "The Talk" survived a bout with colon cancer. So did Pope John Paul, II. President Reagan had two surgeries to remove malignant tumors from his colon, tumors that were so serious, doctors removed part of the President's intestine. But colon cancer was one foe, legendary football coach Vince Lombardi couldn't beat, and he died from the malignancy at the age of 57.

Dr. Kelli Bullard Dunn of Roswell Park Cancer Institute said, "Colorectal cancer, unlike a lot of other cancers, we think starts off as a benign polyp, that is a benign growth in the colon, that if we catch it early enough, you can take it off before before it ever becomes cancer."

Dr. Bullard Dunn is chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and breaks through a common myth that polyps have symptoms.

"You could be walking around with a half dozen polyps in your colon, and there is no way you would know it. It does not make you feel bad, it doesn't give you pain, it does not change your bowel habits, so the only way to know is to look," said Dr. Bullard Dunn.

And a colonoscopy can detect those polyps. Doctors use a flexible narrow tube, called a colonoscope, which is inserted in the large intestine and sends back live pictures from the inside of the colon. The surgeon can spot and remove the polyp before it becomes cancerous. Doctors recommend people 50 and older get a colonoscopy every five years, but if you have a family history of colon cancer, you should start earlier.

Dr. Bullard Dunn said, "This is a disease that people should be thinking about. They should be talking to their doctors about it, they should be talking to their family members. One of the most important things about any cancer, but colorectal cancer in particular, is knowing what your family history is."

Experts from Roswell Park will be on hand at the Boulevard Mall in Amherst on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. to answer all your questions about colon cancer. News 4's Al Vaughters will be there to lend a hand starting at noon. Find more information here.