Polyps are common.  Studies have shown about 25-30% of people over the age of 50 have a precancerous colon polyp on their exam.  Most all polyps are removable during the colonoscopy.  We have many tools that we can put through the working channels of the colonoscope during your exam that allow us to safely remove them.  For small polyps, I use biopsy forceps that are like small scissors and allow to me to trim the polyp out.  For larger polyps I use a snare (like a loop) that goes around the base of the polyp.  Then, while cutting through the polyp, an electric current is applied that cauterizes the base to help keep it from bleeding.  Since the polyps grow

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The day before your colonoscopy you will be put on a liquid diet around lunch.  You can go to work during this.  That evening, usually after work, you begin the bowel prep.  This will keep you busy for the night so if you work graveyard shift you will want to take that shift off to be at home.  The day of the exam we request that you take the whole day off work.  Even though you will only be at our endoscopy center for center for about 2-3 hours, you will be sedated so we don’t want you driving or making any major decisions for the rest of the day.  You well feel like going home and resting.  The next

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We are very professional about your privacy at all time.  We understand that the thought of a bunch of strangers seeing your naked behind can be embarrassing.  We take extra steps to keep you covered up with warm blankets right up to the time of your exam.  Once you are asleep I will expose just enough of your behind to safely pass the colonoscope and perform your exam.  The nurse and anesthesiology provider are doing their job on the opposite side of your exam table and cannot peak.  The endoscopy technician that assists me during your exam will be standing by my side but conducts things in a very professional manner as well.  We do everything we can to keep

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A colonoscopy in the hands of an experienced team should not be painful at all.  I have been though one myself.  Before the exam starts you will be given some sedating medication through your IV by an anesthesia provider and you will drift off to sleep.  You are awake enough that you are breathing on your own but sleepy enough that you are comfortable.  During the exam you should not feel anything at all.  After the exam you are gassy and bloated for awhile due to the air that is put into your colon during the colonoscopy, but that usually passes rather quickly (and sometimes loudly).  During my colonoscopy I remember laying in the colonoscopy suite talking to my partner

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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and American College of Gastroenterology both recommend the colon cancer screening guidelines should start colon cancer screening at age 50.  They also recommend continued surveillance until at least age 75 depending on other health factors.  If there are other risk factors involved like family history of colon cancer or precancerous polyps (adenoma), personal history of other types of cancer or a hereditary condition that you may have that is associated with increased colon cancer risk, then you would be screened at a younger age.  Unexplained rectal bleeding at most any age should be evaluated as well.  If you have specific questions as to when you should be screened, please contact me at my San

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For the correct indication colonoscopy is covered buy most all insurance carriers.  For screening at age 50 or older, for screening sooner than age 50 in people with risk factors and for blood in the stool it is covered by most every insurance carrier.  The only way to know for sure is to have our business office run your insurance benefits, which they will do for you free of charge, and they can determine if and how well it is covered on your plan.  Don’t let your insurance companies decision on coverage or not deter you from getting screened- if a colon cancer is missed, they save the money on the colonoscopy, but you have to deal with the colon

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Yes.  There are many studies that have been done looking at this topic and we have found that colonoscopy and colon cancer screening do saves lives.  It is estimated that over 150,000 people will be diagnosed with colon cancer in the United States this year and 50,000 will die from colon cancer.  There was a large, long term study from Harvard School of Public Health that concluded that 40% of all colorectal cancers could be prevented if people underwent colonoscopy screening.  The National Polyp Study done in the United States in 1993 found anywhere from a 76% to 90% reduction in

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A colonoscope is a thin (10mm) tube that contains a lighted camera.  It also has channels in it so that different instruments (like small forceps to biopsy things or snares to remove polyps) can be passed into your colon during the exam.  This makes the colonoscope a tool that helps us both detect polyps and removed polyps during the same exam.  It is used by gastroenterologists, like me, to treat bleeding in the colon, remove polyps, detect colon cancer and remove foreign objects (yah you read that right).

A colonoscopy is a procedure where a thin flexible tube with a camera on the end is advance through the colon (large intestine) while you are asleep to look for and remove lesions.  It has been available in the United States for about 40 years, and luckily, has advanced a lot over that time.  It is done Monday through Friday here at my San Antonio, TX gastroenterology clinic.  When you arrive for your colonoscopy you will be checked in by my endoscopy nursing team to obtain your medical history and get you an IV so we can make you comfortable for your exam.  You will then be seen by the anesthesiology provider to discuss your sedation.  Then you will speak

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