LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The effectiveness of colonoscopies, widely used around the world to detect colorectal cancer, is under scrutiny. Specifically questioned is the test’s ability to determine a patient’s related risk of death and disease.

A recent study by the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at the test's effect on the risks of the disease and related deaths. Dr. Michael Driscoll with the Norton Cancer Institute believes there is no substitute for a colonoscopy.

In the study, participants were randomly assigned to either receive an invitation to get a screening or not get asked to undergo the test.

Of the 84,585 participants in the study from Poland, Norway and Sweden, 28,220 were invited to take the test. Of those 28,000, only 11,843 (42%) received a colonoscopy.

Driscoll says that it’s difficult to get good data from these results, when over half of those involved didn’t receive a colonoscopy. However, Driscoll certainly recommends getting screened for colorectal cancer.

“For folks that have no family history of colon cancer 45 is the age, and it has decreased from 50 to 45 in the last few years because we have seen an increase in diagnosis of colorectal cancer,” Driscoll said.

However, if you have a family history of colon cancer, then Driscoll recommends screening much earlier. For example, if a family member is diagnosed with the disease at age 50, you might consider a test at age 40.

“We have lots of good data that screenings work. We know from large retrospective studies that screening definitively decreases people’s risk of colorectal cancer,” Driscoll said. “Even the study we called into question here, of the folks who had gotten the colonoscopy, decreased their risk of dying of colorectal cancer by 50%, our studies here in the United States are closer to 70%.”

A disease that is over 90% preventable and starts with getting screened.

Dr. Driscoll said 150,000 people get diagnosed with colorectal cancer every year in the United States, 50,000 people die every year of colorectal cancer.