Blue March, Colorectal Cancer Screening Awareness Month, is coming to an end. The Esquirol-Saint-Hilaire clinic is offering an information day on Tuesday, March 29.
Like every year, the Esquirol-Saint-Hilaire clinic with the Calabet clinic participates in the awareness month for organized colorectal cancer screening. On Tuesday March 29, it will offer information stands with local associations and partners and, at 6 p.m., a face-to-face and videoconference conference, signed in French sign language and led by the doctors of the establishment and the Center for coordination of cancer screening in Lot-et-Garonne.
Some numbers
Organized screening, like screening for breast cancer, is free. However, these simple tests to perform at home do not attract as much as health professionals would like. During this followingnoon at the clinic, they will therefore provide key information to encourage everyone over the age of 50 to carry out this screening, following receiving at home and automatically an invitation from the health insurance funds.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the second deadliest cancer in France.
There are nearly 45,000 new cases each year and nearly 18,000 deaths.
95% of the people concerned are over 50 (which explains why organized screening is only for people over 50).
Only 30% of screening invitations are honored.
Nine times out of ten, colorectal cancer can be treated on condition that it is detected at an early stage (hence the usefulness of organized screening, even if there are no signs suggesting the presence of cancer).
The test is perfectly painless and very easy to perform.
Participating in screening is sometimes saving oneself
Health professionals point out that “participation in screening would prevent more than 6,500 deaths per year in France each year”.
“The test can detect a benign tumor before it develops into cancer or detect a cancerous tumor at an early stage in order to increase the chances of recovery. The educational screening kit consists of instructions for use , an identification form, a stool collection and collection device, as well as a postage-paid return envelope. The screening test is fully covered by health insurance. If the result is positive, a consultation with a gastroenterologist will allow a colonoscopy to be carried out in order to clarify the diagnosis.”
As soon as the people concerned receive their invitation, they can contact their general practitioner to provide them with the screening kit.
