The Colon Club

Hi,

For those of you who have recovered from stage III, how often are you doing colonoscopies? Years ago I was told by my oncologist to do it every 3 years forever. But I've also heard 5. What's the latest advice people are getting?

Also, I was told back then to take a daily full-strength (325mg) aspirin. Anybody else doing that?

TIA!

Hi! I'm almost 7 years post op. I had a clean colonoscopy at 1 year and then again 3 years after that and then the doc said come back in 5 years. I take 81 mg of aspirin daily. I'll be interested in knowing what other folks are doing.
Margie

My oncologist was a researcher involved in some of the early aspirin/CRC trials - he said the initial results were promising but ultimately they weren’t able to demonstrate a clear benefit for most cases. I believe the evidence for its use is stronger in Lynch Syndrome however. His view now is that low-dose aspirin is very safe provided there are no bleeding risks/issues, but not to expect a materially different outcome from a CRC perspective from aspirin monotherapy. I take around 100-200mg/d as part of a much larger supplement and off-label stack.

Last year both my cardiologist and my GP insisted that I stop taking daily baby aspirin. They said it was not much use for preventing cardiovascular problems in people my age, and furthermore it was the likely cause of the many unsightly bruises and cuts that would take a long time to heal. Reference

Regarding aspirin, my oncologist recommended it to prevent cancer recurrence specifically, nothing to do with the heart. Here's a related article describing how aspirin was found to reduce cancer diagnosis and colon polyp formation in particular:

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/cau ... ancer-risk

Still there's been some confounding research on this. Linked in that article is a more recent one suggesting diagnosis of advanced cancer in people older than 70 might be increased by aspirin.

I'm curious what advice others have received from GI oncologists in particular related to aspirin use for reduction of cancer recurrence risk.

ab123,

My oncologist said to take aspirin. I experimented with different dosages of aspirin from 81mg to 1500 mg daily (split dose throughout the day). Even at high dose (1500 mg/daily), I still had progression of lung nodules and my CEA went higher (not by much, but it still rose). I did not know prior to taking aspirin, that some people do not respond to aspirin at any dose. I guess that I am one of those non-responders because aspirin didn't do anything for me and it took its toll on my kidneys. Like Rob, I took other supplements that DID seem to have an effect on CEA and CT scans.


Paige

I had a colonoscopy a little a year after my resection and about six months after I finished my chemo ( folfox)

They found a few minor polyps - snipped them , biopsied ( all good ) - and told me to come back in two years.

Don't love the prep - but would rather have the piece of mind.

I have seen the same conflicting data on the aspirin - also thought it helped with possible stroke

Every colonoscopy my gastro writes a report saying 'see you in 5 years!'. And then the other part of my care team says "how about no" and schedules me for 3.