Colonoscopy: Unexpected Results From a Major Study, Is It Worth Doing?

Colonoscopies don’t save as many lives as previously thought.

3D illustration of a body with intestinal polyp. peterschreiber.media/Shutterstock

Although many view a colonoscopy as an uncomfortable or even scary procedure, around 15 million of them are carried out annually in the United States, and 60.6 percent of people aged 50 to 75 without a personal history of colorectal cancer have had one in the past 10 years.

It’s believed that a colonoscopy not only helps find cancer but also prevents cancer from developing from polyps. Because of its high level of sensitivity and specificity, colonoscopies have been regarded as the gold standard for colon cancer screenings for a long time.

Unexpected Result From a Major Colonoscopy Study

However, a major clinical study, the Nordic-European Initiative on Colorectal Cancer (NordICC) study published in 2022, raised questions about the efficacy of colonoscopies.