Proctosigmoidoscopy in Periodic Health Examinations

IN MOST tumor registeries cancer of the colon and rectum ranks from first to third in frequency in men, excluding skin cancer. According to the National Health Education Committee, it is first by a wide margin.¹ When discovered in its early stages the prospect for cure is the best of all internal malignancies. The challenge to find and remove these tumors in their curable stages is the challenge to reduce the death rate from one type of cancer.

The Greenbrier Clinic is a diagnostic medical clinic. Approximately two-thirds of the male patients are examined under company sponsored executive health programs. This gives a cross-section with low selection in the 35 to 65 year age group. Most analyses of sigmoidoscopic studies of statistical importance have been from cancer detection centers, where, it has been shown, some patients are motivated to undergo examinations because of symptoms which they sometimes conceal.

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