As every year, the Regional Cancer Screening Center in Occitanie is launching an awareness campaign among the Ariège residents. From March 1, those affected will be able to order a test from home.
If the blue color that symbolizes it can still cause confusion in the minds of some, one thing is certain: colon cancer affects both men and women. “It is even the second deadliest cancer following lung cancer,” notes Dr. Elsa Vignon, responsible in Ariège and Aude for the Regional Cancer Screening Coordination Center (CRCDC).
However, the approximately 17,000 deaths caused by this cancer in France each year “might be avoided if they were spotted in time”, deplores the practitioner. As a result, the CRCDC launches Operation “Mars Bleu”. As every year, from March 1, Ariège residents aged 50 to 74 will receive a letter inviting them to be tested. “They can then go to their doctor, their gynecologist, or even a gastroenterologist to see if they can receive a self-test, or if their state of health requires further monitoring.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO9gBwoSG9k
But this year, the CRCDC is innovating by offering those concerned the possibility of ordering their kit themselves online, on the platform of the National Health Insurance Fund. The goal: to encourage everyone to get tested. “In Ariège, we are unable to exceed 29% participation in Mars bleu”, underlines Elsa Vignon. A reluctance which is explained both by “the fear of the word cancer”, “the fact of having to handle stools” or even by “the still too widespread idea that one does not go to the doctor if one does not is not sick”.
However, it is by taking this disease “as soon as possible” that “the worst can sometimes be avoided”. “Screening involves testing stools to see if they contain blood, a sign that something is wrong,” says Dr. Vignon. But who says blood does not necessarily mean cancer: in the event of traces of blood, the person concerned will simply have to undergo a colonoscopy, to check what this is due to. “In 30 to 40% of cases it is bleeding from polyps, small pimples that can develop into cancer but are easily treatable if they are treated in time”, indicates the practitioner.
Through this home screening, the CRCDC hopes to see the participation rate increase. A hope shared by the Primary Health Insurance Fund and the Regional Health Agency.
Slow growing cancer
The meetings of “Mars Bleu” in Ariège
As part of the colorectal cancer screening campaign, the CRCDC has scheduled various appointments.
- Wednesday, March 23: day of individual interviews at the MSA in Foix to raise staff awareness of screening.
- Thursday March 24, 5:00 p.m.: webinar for all policyholders in the Occitanie region, with the intervention of doctors Vignoux and Bichard.
- prevention stand at the Ariège valleys hospital center, to raise staff awareness.
