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Reply to "Pouchoscopy"

katenet,

If you had dysplasia or cancer in your colon when removed, or a history of pouch inflammation, you should be scoped annually. Otherwise, it's discretionary and depends on whether you are having any issues or not. You still have colonic tissue (rectal cuff), and if there is that dysplasia/cancer/pouch inflammation history, you are deemed a risk and an annual scope candidate and this is just common sense. Usually cancers will start in the rectal cuff, and it should be biopsied in any scope, but ileal cancers are rare. In my case I had dysplasia when the colon was removed plus I have had chronic inflammation in the J pouch and neoterminal ileum, so I have been scoped every year for the past 40 years going back to my days with UC. It's essentially a no brainer in my case.

If you decide to go infrequently and not annually, based on the history you described, you have to ask yourself if you feel lucky, a question Clint Eastwood once famously asked in a movie after admitting he didn't know if he fired 5 shots, or 6, in the chase of a bank robber. You could choose to roll the dice, although the fellow Clint asked the question to decided not to:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A732Cuuo2tI

I should note that Tony Snow didn't go for annual colonoscopies, rolled the dice knowing his history, and paid a huge price. But many others probably get away with it.

Last edited by CTBarrister
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