Colonoscopy, which detects the risk of colon cancer, is strongly recommended for anyone over the age of 50. To support the messages on this necessary prevention, the American actor Will Smith posted a video of his examination on his YouTube channel. A laudable initiative, when we know that this colorectal cancer remains the 3rd most common cancer in men.
Colonoscopy is an examination that is often considered unpleasant but which is essential in the prevention of colorectal cancer, which can be cured in nine out of ten cases. In 2017, this asymptomatic cancer affected 24,035 men and 20,837 women in 2017 and caused an estimated 17,684 deaths, making it the 3and most common in men, after lung and prostate cancer.
Recommended for anyone aged fifty or over, colonoscopy involves exploring the inner lining of the large intestine (colon) using an endoscope introduced through the anus, an invasive technique that puts off many affected people who constantly grow back when to do this test.
To recall its importance, the American actor Will Smith, who celebrated his 51st birthday in September, staged his colonoscopy on his YouTube channel: in a video, he humorously documents his examination carried out in a Miami establishment, in Florida. “I’m in my 50s so we have to go through my stuff,” he explains at the start of the video.
A pre-cancerous lesion removed
If he never departs from his humor, Will Smith hides nothing either from his fans: neither his fear at the idea of undergoing the examination, nor his look in a hospital gown. In the space of 17 minutes that the document lasts, the star also reveals all the stages of the operation: first his arrival at the hospital, then the hours which followed the colonoscopy where he appears groggy by the anesthesia , and finally the results, which he then had his personal physician, Dr. Ana Stanford, comment on.
In the case of Will Smith, the realization of this colonoscopy proved to be essential: the actor thus reveals that the presence of a “polyp, a pre-cancerous lesion” was indeed detected, and that it was fortunately able to be withdrawn from him during the intervention.
Thanks to this video, Will Smith intends to make women and men over 50 aware of the importance of screening for colorectal cancer and therefore of having a colonoscopy. “Everything is fine. It was interesting. Health is our greatest wealth,” he recalls in conclusion.
A message that is all the more important since, according to Public Health France, only a third of the population concerned carries out this test, whereas it would be necessary to reach at least 45% of the population to obtain a minimum efficiency. The encouraging point is that its use is slowly increasing: 33.5% over the 2016/2017 period versus 29% over the 2015/2016 period.
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