Colorectal Cancer Screening
Regular colon cancer screening can find colon cancer early when it is smaller and easier to treat. Colon cancer screening may also find polyps before they become cancer. If you are at average risk of getting colon cancer and have no symptoms, ask your primary health care provider (family doctor or nurse practitioner) about being screened using the new fecal immunochemical test (FIT). You are at average risk for colon cancer if you are 50 to 74 years old and have no first-degree relative (parent, brother, sister or child) diagnosed with colon cancer.
Ask your primary care provider about being screened with a colonoscopy if you:
- Have one or more first-degree relative (parent, brother, sister, or child) diagnosed with colon cancer, and
- Are over the age of 50 or you are 10 years older than when your family member was diagnosed with colon cancer (whichever comes first).
Learn more about how you can be screened for colon cancer.