On the Beat 10/9/2020 gastroenterology on colon cancer screening

Troy Thompson talks with Dr. Ricky Johnson of Gastroenterology Associates of Columbus about colon cancer screening

Troy thompson: welcome to on the beat, everyone.

I'm troy thompson.

Joining me in the studio today is dr. ricky johnston from gastroenterology associates of columbus, and today, we're talking about a topic we have talked about before, and that is colonoscopies.

Welcome to the show, my friend.

Nice to see you.

Dr. johnston: nice to see you, troy.

Troy thompson: okay.

There are lots of concerns out there, especially going into medical offices and having procedures.

Where do we stand when it comes to the safety for your patients?

Dr. johnston: well, obviously that's at our forefront for us to resume practice and start seeing patients.

We really focused on having a good plan for safety.

We're doing a few things in our practice.

We're testing patients when they come to the door, screening them with the usual questions about exposures, checking their temperature.

We're asking their family members to stay in the car and wait on them.

Our office staff are masked.

We're masked.

We're asking patients to wear masks except during the time of the procedure.

We're doing everything we can from a safety standpoint.

Troy thompson: i think that's really important.

I know when i go into the medical offices and things like that, one of the questions they ask is if i'm feeling any of the symptoms of maybe this ... i may have covid, but i don't actually have covid.

I might have a bit of a flu or something like that.

Are those type of patients still able to come in?

Dr. johnston: yes.

I didn't mention in the safety part of that, but we actually are screening with testing now beforehand.

Troy thompson: you are.

Dr. johnston: we felt like that was important for our safety, for our patient's safety, for our staff safety, and the department of health has actually suggested as part of their guidelines for practice too.

We're having our patients get tested within about a four to five day window beforehand.

Generally in addition to the screening and temperature check when they come to the door, we also will have a recent covid test on them.

That's been very helpful.

Yes, the symptoms, as you suggested, can be varying.

The list of symptoms with covid is extensive and- troy thompson: they're the symptoms of a flu.

Dr. johnston: yeah, exactly.

Which is tough.

It makes it tough to screen for just on that.

Some people are asymptomatic.

We've had a lot of people.

Obviously that's been the big problem with this is asymptomatic spread.

We feel like testing is catching those, and we've actually had some people turn up positive in pre-screens right before the procedure.

We were able to push them out- troy thompson: and catch them and help them sooner.

Dr. johnston: right.

Troy thompson: i think that's amazing.

Dr. johnston: and keep them out of our building.

Troy thompson: exactly.

Dr. johnston: to avoid exposure.

Exactly.

Troy thompson: all right.

Let's jump into the main topic, which of course is colon cancer and having the colon cancer screening.

At what age should one be looking at having their screening done, and what is a screening?

Dr. johnston: there's different ways to screen for colon cancer.

I'm a gastroenterologi st.

We perform colonoscopy.

That's our preferred method.

We think that's the best.

I think that's generally pretty well accepted.

Other ways that you can screen for would be by doing testing on the stool for blood, what's called a flexible sigmoidoscopy, which is a scope kind of like what we do, but it's only looking at part of the colon.

There's some x-rays that can be done.

But generally none of those are as good as a colonoscopy.

If you've got access to a colonoscopy, if you have a gastroenterologi st in your area, that's the best way to do this.

Age, we tend to start at age 50 historically for everyone.

Those ages have shifted sooner than that for certain demographics or certain based on family history or race, or maybe symptoms wise.

But age 45 to 50 is generally when.

Troy thompson: i think you and i talked once before.

Is it the african american community that needs to come in sooner?

Dr. johnston: yeah.

It's recommended for them to start at age 45 because for whatever reason, they're a little bit higher risk.

I touched on family history too.

That's also very important, particularly if you have a first degree relative who is afflicted with colon cancer, particularly at a young age because those patients, we actually start around 40 or sometimes even sooner.

If you have a family member who was diagnosed with colon cancer around age 45, we would start that at 35.

Troy thompson: yeah.

Well, that's what we did with me right.

Now just everyone at home who may be nervous about having a screening or having a colonoscopy, the procedure is , i think when i came in, it was an hour?

Dr. johnston: yeah, you're there about, yeah, probably an hour, hour and a half, sometimes two, depending on flow and how our day's going.

But the procedure itself is generally 20, 30 minutes.

It's pretty quick and easy.

Troy thompson: that's not very long at all.

And best to have all your medical insurance and everything checked out to make sure you're covered.

Dr. johnston: yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Most people for their age, 50 screening are going to be covered at a 100%.

Troy thompson: well as always, thank you doctor.

We really appreciate it.

Dr. johnston: yeah, you're welcome.

Troy thompson: you want to find out more information, there it all is up on the screen for you.

There it is.

Gastroenterology associates of columbus.

Today we're talking all about colon cancer screening.

Back after this short break,