'potentially life-saving': polyp discovered during ryan reynold's colonoscopy spotlights importance of screening

the 45-year-old free guy star and rob mcelhenney, the co-chair of his wrexham football club, teamed up with the colon cancer awareness organization lead from behind to have the exam for both of them made public with a video on youtube that’s already received more than 250,000 views.

reynolds learned critical information about his health, newsweek reports . during the procedure — where a colonscope is inserted through the anus into the rectum and colon to send a video image of the large intestine to a monitor — his doctor found and removed “an extremely subtle polyp” on the right side of reynolds’ colon.

the video , posted this tuesday, had been viewed 291,919 times at the time of publishing this story, along with more than 1,000 comments.

symptoms of colon cancer

some signs that may indicate colon cancer , according to colorectal cancer canada, include unexplained changes in bowel habits, such as constipation or diarrhea; changes in the size and/or shape of stools, such as being narrower than usual; the urge to have a bowel movement but nothing passes and rectal bleeding.

screening for colon cancer can save your life

in 2018, the american cancer society (acs) updated its guidelines for recommended screening for colorectal cancer from age 50 to age 45. the move came in direct response to the increase in incidence of early age onset (eao) colorectal cancer. acs investigators in the journal of the national cancer institute in 2017 reported that rectal cancer rates are increasing particularly fast, as three in 10 rectal cancer diagnoses are in patients younger than 55.

here in canada, guidelines recommend a stool test for colorectal cancer every two years for those aged 50 to 74 who are not at high-risk for colorectal cancer, according to the canadian cancer society . and follow-up for a positive test (one that shows blood in the stool) should include a colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy.

testing is important, advises colorectal cancer canada , since most colorectal cancer deaths could be avoided if everyone aged 50 years and older underwent regular screening tests.