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Comment by mijowi | Hacker News Reader

I haven't heard of a take-home colonoscopy. How does that work?

The take home thing is a vial into which you put a stool sample and mail it back. Then it gets tested for signs of colon cancer. I've seen them advertised on TV as well.

That is not a colonoscopy. That is a stool sample and as other replies noted this gets sent out every two years to every one. In the UK from age 60 Australia seems to be from 50.

If that tests positive then you get a colonoscopy to check more things. If you have had colon cancer then you get a full colonscopy evry two years and an MRI every year.

Right, it's an alternative to a colonoscopy. As standard-of-care it's relatively new in the US.

Sigh, we’re so far behind in anything that’s actually good for the common person. We’re way ahead in capitalistic societal development, though.

No it is not an alternative to a colonoscopy it is a different test.

If this test finds something then the next step is not treatment it is you need a colonoscopy.

It is a test that cuts down on the number of colonoscopies needed and is cheap enough to find problems earlier than everyone having a colonoscopy which is just unaffordable,

I've got extremely normal marketplace health insurance and my doctor is at an extremely normal overworked large regional health chain, and I would have to argue with him to get an at-home test; the whole system is set up to funnel us all into colonoscopies.

Replace colonoscopies in that sentence by anything that can be made money from and pays doctors.

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