During the month of March, Coffeyville Regional Medical Center is promoting Colorectal Cancer Awareness by providing free Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) kits to members of the community age 50 or older. These kits are available in the Tatman Cancer Center during the month of March. Colon cancer is 90% curable if caught in the early stages. Taking an FIT test can help an individual be diagnosed for colon cancer as early as possible and to start lifesaving treatment.
Colon cancer is unique in the medical world. It is one cancer that can actually be prevented if detected early before cancerous polyps have a chance to grow and spread. Colon cancer can strike at any age, but 9 out of 10 new cases are in people age 50 or older. That is why colorectal cancer screening is recommended for men and women over the age of 50 and for anyone with a family history of the disease, regardless of age.
The American Cancer Society’s most recent estimates for the number of colorectal cancer cases in the United States for 2017 are 95,520 new cases of colon cancer and 39,910 new cases of rectal cancer. They predict that it will cause about 50,260 deaths in 2017. The death rate (the number of deaths per 100,000 people per year) from colorectal cancer has been dropping in both men and women for more than 20 years. The key to improving survival is diagnosing at an early stage with screening.
For more information about the FIT test, contact Vicky Portwood, Director of Outpatient Services and Cancer Center at Coffeyville Regional Medical Center,
620-252-1606 or vportwood@crmcinc.org