Virtual Colonoscopy|Colon Cancer Prevention

The colonoscopy is known as “the gold standard” of colon cancer prevention. If colon polyps are detected in the earliest stage, their removal is considered 100% curative. If detected in Stage I, there is almost a 95% survival rate. In Stage II, the survival rate falls to 83% and in Stage III, to 44%. In Stage IV, the final stage, there is only an 8% survival rate once the cancer has spread all over the body. With a virtual colonoscopy, early detection is possible.

Usually, the first symptoms of colon cancer appear once it’s too late and colon cancer patients are already into Stage III, where the survival rate is down to about 40%. Yet, if caught early, this deadly disease is 93 to 100% curable.

Each year, 49,920 Americans die of metastatic colon cancer that has migrated throughout their bodies into other organs. In the beginning, a virtual colonoscopy can find the tiniest abnormalities, like non-cancerous colon polyps, that can be easily removed with a colonoscope or minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery.

During the virtual colonoscopy, you’ll be positioned on the CT examination table, usually lying flat on your back. During a CT scan, a thin tube is then placed into the anus and rectum. Gas will be pumped through the tube to expand the large intestine for a clearer picture. For an MRI scan, contrast media will be administered rectally to expand the large intestine. The computer will then take images of the large intestine/colon, as patients are asked to hold their breath for about fifteen seconds to steady the images. A second pass is done after patients roll over onto their stomachs. Once the scan is done, the tube is removed and the patient is free to leave. The whole procedure only takes 15 minutes and doctors can read the results within 30 minutes.

In many ways, a virtual colonoscopy is preferable to a conventional screening colonoscopy procedure. For one, this cancer alternative screening test does not require the insertion of a colonoscope tube into the entire length of the colon, which can sometimes be uncomfortable. Instead, a thin tube is placed into the anus and rectum, with air used to expand the large intestine, which does not feel any different than the fullness after eating a meal. Secondly, no sedation is required.

With a traditional colonoscopy, patients must bring a chaperone to drive them to and from the procedure. Thirdly, the virtual scan provides clearer and more detailed images than the barium x-ray test and takes less time than most other screening tests.

One of the virtual colonoscopy’s limitations is that patients still have to endure the liquid diet regiment and they still need to have something inserted into their anus and rectum. Many people don’t like the idea of that, despite its propensity to save lives. Additionally, there is limited availability for this new procedure in some locations and Medicare currently does not cover the cost of this exam, although most private insurance companies do.

In a website memo, Medicare representatives said: “We have determined that there is insufficient evidence on the test characteristics and performance of screening CT colonoscopy in Medicare-aged individuals, and that the evidence is not sufficient to conclude that screening CT colonoscopy improves health benefits for asymptomatic, average-risk Medicare beneficiaries.” Even though there have been several studies demonstrating the virtual test’s efficiency at colon cancer prevention, Medicare has not yet accepted these new findings.

Dr. Perry Pickhardt, a radiologist from the University of Wisconsin, calls the virtual colonoscopy “the most cost-effective and safest screening option available.” He adds that this option may “encourage more adults to undergo screening.”

Dr. Pickhardt appeared on PBS’s “News Hour” in 2003, talking about this exciting new screening test. He told Margaret Walker, “By using this 3-D virtual fly-through to actually find the polyps, which I believe is a more effective search pattern, we’re able to match conventional colonoscopy in performance.” In fact, a number of patients find this colon cancer prevention screening preferable to more invasive tests.

The doctor who discovered Endoscopic treatment: Dr. Hiromi Shinya

Dr. Hiromi Shinya designed and developed a life-saving medical tool for the endoscopic treatment of polyps. Without requiring use of surgery, his revolutionary “Shinya Method” has become widely used in colonoscopies, the standard screening for the leading, non-tobacco related cancer killer in the US, colon cancer. Dr. Shinya is world renowned in performing intestinal-related procedures, and is known to have examined more than 300,000 stomachs and large intestines, and has performed nearly 100,000 polypectomies.

Dr. Hiromi Shinya has written what is quite possibly the most profound book of the 20th and 21st centuries in both health and medicine. In his best selling book, “The Enzyme Factor,” he states succinctly and unequivocally that “None of my patients have to face cancer again.” He goes on to say that so long as you or I follow his “enzyme factor diet and lifestyle [he] introduces in this book [you can expect] a 0% cancer recurrence rate.”

Nowhere can you find such bold and forthright statements. Furthermore, he says that this “way of life will allow you to live out your natural life span without ever getting sick again.” And I believe him. One of the world’s foremost gastroenterologists, Dr. Shinya is 70 years old, maintains two full-time practices—one here in the United States and the other in Japan—where he gives 6 months in each location. He has performed to date more than 300,000 colonoscopies utilizing his own non-invasive procedure with the instrument he invented to perform this ever-so-vital examination. It’s called “the Shinya technique.”

These reasons and so many more are why I recommend this book to everyone I meet, everyone I know and every family member I love and hold dear. It’s extreme hope in an often hopeless world. It offers more health and health caring than any person, place or thing that I have ever come across. And yes, he recommends and prescribes Kangen Water™ specifically. Look for it in Chapter 3 on page 94.