"What the general public can do is feces screening. Check your poop once a year," Sudoyo stated during the webinar titled "Beware of Colorectal Cancer" here on Wednesday.
The stool examination tests the occult blood in the sample. Sudoyo explained that the examination only requires small quantity of fecal samples to be taken in a container to the laboratory.
Sudoyo noted that this type of examination is the least expensive type of colorectal cancer screening. However, patients often feel repulsed about bringing the stool sample, he noted.
"I can ask my patient to spend millions on blood tests, but once he/she has to take his or her feces to the laboratory, he/she does not want to and feels disgusted. As a result, the screening failed," he pointed out.
The stool examination is recommended to be conducted once a year, considering that the growth of normal cells into malignant cells takes between five to 20 years.
Given this long period of time, Sudoyo said, there is no reason for people not to undergo early detection checks.
A feces examination is recommended for persons aged 35-40 years. Meanwhile, for persons already aged 45-50 years, a colonoscopy would be more accurate, he suggested.
In comparison, stool examination is more practical, easy, and inexpensive, while colonoscopy requires preparation and is more expensive, but with the advantage of more accurate results.
Moreover, Sudoyo said that until now, there has been no official movement of colon cancer screening programs in Indonesia. Therefore, self-awareness to take the initiative to do colon cancer screening is important.
"What exists now is an individual movement that every doctor is advised to urge his or her patients to undergo these examinations," he stated.
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Translator: Rizka K, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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