As a most com­mon can­cer in Hong Kong, Col­orec­tal can­cer ranked sec­ond among all fa­tal can­cers*. As the symp­toms of Col­orec­tal car are not easy to dis­cov­er, it is im­por­tant to un­der­go reg­u­lar check­ing in or­der to de­tect and fol­low up the ill­ness as soon as pos­si­ble. In many cas­es, colonoscopy al­lows ac­cu­rate di­ag­no­sis and treat­ment with­out the need for a ma­jor op­er­a­tion. 

Dur­ing a colonoscopy, the doc­tor uses a colono­scope, a long, flex­i­ble, tubu­lar in­stru­ment about 1cm in di­am­e­ter that trans­mits an im­age of the lin­ing of the colon so the doc­tor can ex­am­ine the whole large in­tes­tine from rec­tum to sig­moid colon to the junc­tions of the small in­tes­tine for any ab­nor­mal­i­ties such as polyps, bleed­ing, tu­mors etc. The colono­scope is in­sert­ed through the rec­tum. If the doc­tor sees some­thing that may be ab­nor­mal, small amounts of tis­sue can be re­moved for analy­sis (called a biop­sy), and ab­nor­mal growths, or polyps, can be iden­ti­fied and re­moved.

Suit­able for per­son with be­low symp­toms / sit­u­a­tions:
• Un­ex­plained ab­dom­i­nal pain
• Blood in stools
• Change in bow­el habits
• Fam­i­ly his­to­ry of col­orec­tal can­cer
• Screen­ing for col­orec­tal can­cer
• Suf­fer in ul­cer­a­tive col­i­tis or Crohn's dis­ease
• Di­ets tend to be high in fat and low in fi­bre
• Smok­ing and drink­ing

Prepar­ing for Colonoscopy
• Your bow­el must be cleansed in or­der for colonoscopy to be suc­cess­ful. The Colonoscopy could be done in en­doscopy cen­tre or in hos­pi­tals, and could se­lect un­der lo­cal anes­the­sia or mon­i­tored anes­thet­ic care. You may also be asked to take lax­a­tives by mouth.
• Pa­tient is re­quired not to eat any­thing at least 6 hours be­fore the test.
• You must let the doc­tor know if there is a chance that you might be preg­nant.
• You should also in­form the doc­tor of the drugs that you are on, es­pe­cial­ly drugs that af­fect your blood glu­cose lev­els and clot­ting.

*Ac­cord­ing to the Hos­pi­tal Au­thor­i­ty, a to­tal num­ber of 2,138 peo­ple died of Col­orec­tal can­cer, ac­count­ing for 14.9% of all can­cer deaths. Also, Col­orec­tal can­cer ranked sec­ond among all fa­tal can­cers in Hong Kong.