A single colon screening performed in midlife—one procedure, one afternoon—may reduce the risk of dying from colorectal cancer for at least two decades afterward, according to one of the longest colorectal screening trials ever conducted.
The research from Norway, which followed nearly 100,000 adults for 23 years, found that men who underwent a one-time flexible sigmoidoscopy, a less invasive exam than a standard colonoscopy, were 28 percent less likely to develop colorectal cancer and 37 percent less likely to die from the disease than men who were not screened.
