Colorectal cancer screening prevents more deaths due to early detection than breast or prostate cancer screening. The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center recently published a report on the 12 myths about colon cancer and getting to know them could save your life and the lives of your family and friends. Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and the number one cause of cancer death among non-smokers.

Symptoms of colon cancer can include severe abdominal pain, blood in the stool or rectal bleeding, unexplained loss of weight, or major changes in bowel habits (recurrent constipation or diarrhea). But, these symptoms often do not occur until the cancer is in its more advanced stages. An absence of symptoms does not mean an absence of cancer. In fact colon cancer is often referred to as a "silent killer" because of the lack of symptoms until it is in advanced stages. A colonoscopy is the only method that can actually help prevent you from developing colon cancer in the future because during the screening colonoscopy, if the doctor finds polyps, they can remove them from your colon as part of the procedure, preventing the polyps from ever having the chance to develop into cancer. If the polyps found in your colon happen to already be cancerous, they can often be removed during your colonoscopy and treatment can begin right away.

When colon cancer is caught early, it has a 95 percent survival rate. That's why screening is so important. Once colon cancer has spread to the liver, it's usually deadly, with only a 9 percent survival rate. Colonoscopy screening is recommended for men and women beginning at age 50, unless other risk factors exist such as family history, obesity, smoking, ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.