When it comes to colon cancer there are particular risk factors which ought to lead a doctor to test the patient for the existence of the cancer. The primary procedure used by physicians to check for colon cancer when a patient has a family history or reports a symptom, like blood in the stool, is the colonoscopy. With this method doctors can visualize the interior of the colon and look for abnormal (and possibly cancerous) growths. Aside from testing individuals who are at a higher risk level, doctors also ordinarily suggest that asymptomatic men and women who are 50 or older undergo routine screening in order to locate any cancer that may be growing in the colon before it reaches an advanced stage.
If the physician performing the colonoscopy is unable to look at the full span of the colon it is feasible that there might be cancer present in the sections that were not examined. Among the reasons that a physician might not complete the colonoscopy is inadequate prior preparation resulting in inadequate visualization or the existence of an obstruction which makes it impossible to pass the scope beyond the region of the obstruction. If situations like these happen the doctor ought to inform the patient and recommend that the individual either undergo an alternative procedure or a repeat colonoscopy. Not doing so could lead to a missed cancer which might grow and progress to an advanced stage prior to being found.