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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Why it's done
By Mayo Clinic staffYour doctor may recommend a flexible sigmoidoscopy exam to:
- Investigate intestinal signs and symptoms. A flexible sigmoidoscopy exam can help your doctor explore possible causes of abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, a change in bowel habits, chronic diarrhea and other intestinal problems.
- Screen for colon cancer. If you're age 50 or older and at average risk of colon cancer — you have no colon cancer risk factors other than age — your doctor may recommend a flexible sigmoidoscopy exam every five years to screen for colon cancer.
References
- Corbett JV. Laboratory Tests and Diagnostic Procedures with Nursing Diagnoses. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall; 2008:743.
- Levin B, et al. Screening and surveillance for the early detection of colorectal cancer and adenomatous polyps, 2008: A joint guideline from the American Cancer Society, the US Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer, and the American College of Radiology. Gastroenterology. 2008;134:1570.
- Fletcher RH. Screening strategies in patients at average risk for colorectal cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 17, 2009.
- Whitlock EP, et al. Screening for colorectal cancer: A targeted, updated systematic review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008;149:638.
- Frequently asked questions about colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6x_Frequent_Questions_About_Colonoscopy_and_Sigmoidoscopy.asp. Accessed March 27, 2009.
- Charette A. Patient information: Flexible sigmoidoscopy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 17, 2009.
- Flexible sigmoidoscopy. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/sigmoidoscopy/index.htm. Accessed March 17, 2009.
