Any doctors have any opinions on these? Just turned 45, not a big fan of anesthesia but curious how accurate the virtual scan is vs traditional colonoscopy.

So regular colonoscopy is still the gold standard, as it is both diagnostic and therapeutic. "Virtual" is just a CT scan with a special protocol that doesn't have the capability to identify smaller polyps. And even if anything larger is identified, you would still require an actual colonoscopy to get a biopsy.

That being said, I think if you're especially low risk, and have a contraindication to anesthesia (which you technically don't need, as many countries do these without anesthesia), CT colonography or Cologuard might be a reasonable alternative.

CT has improved significantly over the past 20 years (CT coronary angiography and calcium scores etc), but I'm not ready to trust it on colons outside of frank surgical stuff needing to go to the OR.

Especially with colon cancer and disease on the rise in younger and younger people.

Appreciate the info! Also didn't realize there is still a 'tube' inserted for the CT...

I've done 2. The Prep I did sucks. I think they have different ones but the one I got, You have to drink a giant gallon+ jug (2 glasses at a time) of what tastes like dirty seawater with a little lime flavoring over a period of like 8 hours. After the first couple sets it gets to be a grind.

The runs you get at first arent bad. But when you get into the wee hours of the night or early morning there's nothing left to come out but your body still feels like you need to go- its not a pleasant feeling. I get not wanting to go through that. Happy to say doc said I can do cologuard q 2-3 years and don't have to repeat until 50 (10 years)

The SUTAB Salt pill method was not bad at all. The peeing out of your butt was just that, not uncomfortable just odd.

Much better having to drink water than take the gross drink.

DannyDuberstein said:

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Get the real one. Lost a coworker 2 years ago at age 42 and another one (age 56) that has been thru 18 months of hell and I doubt he'll see 60. Find a doc that will do pill prep. Not that bad. Yes, you are pissing out of your butt by the end which is weird, but then you get a nice propofol nap followed by a delicious cheeseburger. The anesthesia is light and nothing to sweat.

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This.

"Virtual colonoscopy" or CT colonography, is not utilized in a lot of centers and it can be very, very tough to even get approved by insurance.

Colonoscopy procedure itself is a piece of cake. The prep for most people is also pretty well tolerated.

If the sedation is a hangup, remember, "anesthesia" does not mean a general anesthesia like for a surgery, it's typically a lighter sedation referred to as conscious sedation or moderate sedation. Very safe.

If your hesitancies with doing a colonoscopy have to do with the sedation, you could always do the colonoscopy completely unsedated. Plenty of people do that.

If the hesitancy is with colonoscopy itself, would then recommend talking to your primary care doctor about a stool based colon cancer screening test, such as Cologuard. Would be a reasonable option as long as you are not higher risk for a colon cancer, such as having family history of colon cancer.

As we say, any screening is better than no screening at all, just choose the modality that works best for you.

I am somewhat of a colonoscopy expert from the patient perspective. I just had my fourth. Apparently, I am a case study on why you should get one at 50.

On this last one, in the written instructions it was recommended to apply a little Vaseline to the boo hole after each BM. Highly recommend. Didn't have the burning ass feeling late in the process.

For the anesthesia, on my second procedure the anesthesiologist didn't alert me that he had plunged the dope. It was unsettling. For the last two, I kindly ask the anesthesiologist to let me know that they are ready to send the juice. Makes me much more comfortable and gives me a modicum of control.

Coates said:

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Any doctors have any opinions on these? Just turned 45, not a big fan of anesthesia but curious how accurate the virtual scan is vs traditional colonoscopy.

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Are you talking about these tests where you crap in a sample case, seal it, and send it in to look for blood?

There is one big gotcha, I think. I was set up for one of them but before I could collect the sample and send it off I developed a rather severe constipation and could not produce a sample. So the doctor told me I needed to have a colonoscopy.

I'm not positive about it, but I understand that the insurance would cover the diagnostic entirely. Since the non-colonoscopy was billed to my insurance, the colonoscopy was not seen as a diagnostic and I had to pay a good portion of the bill myself.

And in the colonoscopy, they found three polyps that turned out to be pre-cancerous. I don't know if the other test would have found it. If it did find them, then I would have had to have the colonoscopy anyway. If it didn't find them, then I would have had three large polyps that could have become cancerous.

As far as the anesthesia, not all doctors insist on it. When I had the first colonoscopy, they gave me a choice and I chose the anesthesia. When I went in for the second (I've only had two so far), I wasn't given the choice even though I really wanted to do it without anesthesia.

I had my gall bladder removed the day before I was originally scheduled for the second colonoscopy. It took me much longer than normal to wake up from the anesthesia for that. I think I was out for about three or four hours and they were wondering if they were going to have to keep me overnight. So when I went in for the rescheduled colonoscopy four months later, I was very leery about the anesthesia. I discussed it with the anesthesiologist and he seemed to do a really good job. I actually woke up a couple of minutes before they were ready to move me out of the room. I went out looking at a clock and woke back up looking at the clock.

He also told me that the anesthesia used in a colonoscopy is a much less extensive anesthesia used in gall bladder surgery.

In most of the world, it is supposedly unusual to have anesthesia for it. Some doctors even prefer to not have it so they can watch what is happening when they go in. One doctor a few years ago even did his own colonoscopy while sitting in a special chair and using a new, more flexible colonoscope (or whatever it might be called).

Get the real one. My wife had 1 last year at 34 and they found several polyps.

I really think they need to get the regular age of the 1st to drop down to 30-35. Not 40

Concerning the anesthesia, I have a doctor friend who recently refused it for his colonoscopy. Said he would never do that again.

I've posted this on several of these threads, but you can never say it too many times. Get the colonoscopy! I waited until I was 50 which was stupid. I was terrified, but fortunately mine was clean. But the procedure is no big deal at all. Perod. Paragraph.

(But definitely get the anesthesia!)

Yep, he had months of chemo to try to shrink it for surgery, surgery which the outcome was a permanent colostomy, painful extended complications trying to heal from surgery, followed by more chemo. Kind of a husky guy that just withered away over 18 months.