Colonoscopy

Tom had a colonoscopy.

Tom's friend will have a colonoscopy tomorrow.

After his colonoscopy, Tom learned that he had cancer. The surgeon cut out and removed the part of his sigmoid colon in which a tumour had been growing, and with staples she fashioned a new splice from the two shorter and cut-through ends. Because of his good health, he healed quickly and after only three days was discharged from the hospital.

To do a colonoscopy, doctors insert a flexible probe with a very small camera into the patient's colon to examine the intestinal wall. An independent panel of experts in primary care and disease prevention has recommended that the procedure be done every ten years.

I need a colonoscopy.

I had a colonoscopy.

I had a colonoscopy and upper abdominal endoscopy.

Colonoscopy can be expected to identify lesions missed on barium enema, such as small polyps and angiodysplasia. […] Often the preparation of the colon is not ideal, and this can add to the difficulty of performing colonoscopy and interpreting the findings. Tedesco and colleagues reported the results of colonoscopy in 258 patients with rectal bleeding.

Although colonoscopy procedures for routine screenings are not included in that new requirement, surveillance and diagnostic procedures to detect cancer are. UnitedHealthCare said in a fact sheet that this change is due to colonoscopies being overutilized.