Colon & Rectal Cancer Prevention, One Colon at a Time March of every year marks the National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Awareness, however, is only part of the battle against this deadly disease. Prevention will ultimately save many lives from this second leading cause of cancer death among both men and women in this country. In fact, there are more deaths each year due to colorectal cancer than breast cancer and AIDS combined. Someone dies from colorectal cancer every nine minutes. The good news is that colorectal cancer rates have decreased over the last two years mainly due to an increase in both awareness and prevention. At the heart of this noble effort is a local Westside gastroenterologist, Siamak Tabib, MD, Clinical Instructor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA with a busy private practice based at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Dr. Tabib has dedicated his career to help prevent this deadly disease by taking the opportunity to educate both patients and physicians every chance he gets. “It is the duty of every physician to recommend colorectal cancer screening to each and every patient meeting the appropriate criteria.” Dr. Tabib frequently volunteers his time away from his busy practice to give lectures at community halls, churches, synagogues, health fares, corporations, and universities, in order to increase awareness which will hopefully in turn increase prevention and decrease the frequency of colorectal cancer. His patients include Hollywood’s elite, local physicians, nurses, and individuals from both local and international sites. Dr. Tabib uses the latest and most advanced techniques including high definition colonoscopy in his fight to prevent colorectal cancer. Although current guidelines call for screening to begin at the age of fifty, certain individuals including African Americans, are encouraged to start by the age of forty five, due to higher rates of colorectal cancer among this population. Others with a family history of colorectal polyps, colorectal cancer, or personal history of chronic inflammatory conditions of the colon, are encouraged to start at an earlier age. Many physicians, including Dr. Tabib, are now recommending all their patients to start their screening process in their forties. Although not very common, there are individuals who are diagnosed in their thirties and forties. “Prevention may call for screening even earlier than once thought.” Unfortunately, this deadly disease may not have much in the way of warning signs, and those who wait for symptoms to occur before they present to their physicians may already have advanced disease with spread to other organs, significantly decreasing their chances for long term survival. Dr. Tabib recommends scheduling early screening, eating a balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight and active lifestyle, avoiding smoking, and knowing your family medical history. “Only this way can we prevent colorectal cancer, one colon at a time.” For more information, please visit www.yourgidoc.com.
