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University of Nevada launching a program to encourage Northern Nevadans to be screened for colon cancer to reduce the number of deaths from what health officials say is a preventable disease.

Nevada has the sixth-worst colon cancer screening rate in the nation, with 55.7 percent of residents getting a colonoscopy by the recommended age of 50, according to Kaiser Family Foundation.

Nevada women ages 50 and older had the country’s worst colon cancer screening rate, with 51.8 percent.

To change that dismal ranking, the new program would have “patient navigators” to guide people through the sometimes daunting process of getting a potentially life-saving colonscopy that can detect colon cancer.

Also involved in the two-year program are the Nevada Cancer Institute and the Nevada Colon Cancer Program. The program was awarded $340,000 a year by the National Institutes of Health with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Sixty percent of people 50 and older surveyed in Reno and Sparks reported obtaining a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy in 2008, according to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Colonoscopies can detect cancerous polyps before the body begins to show symptoms of colon cancer, Devereux said.

Source: RGJ

Discuss more about colon cancer screening in Radiology User Group.