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colon

Contents can spend a day or more here, which is what makes the colon the place where water is reclaimed and bacteria flourish.

colon cancer

Few cancers offer such a long warning: the polyp stage lasts years, and removing one prevents the cancer that would have followed.

colon crypt

Tube-like gland found in the lining of the colon and rectum.

colon polyp

A colon polyp is an abnormal growth on the inner lining of the colon that is usually benign but occasionally becomes cancerous.

colonoscope

A thin, tube-like instrument used to examine the inside of the colon.

colonoscopy

The only bowel test that both finds a polyp and removes it, which is why it prevents cancer rather than merely detecting it.

colony-stimulating factor

A substance that stimulates the production of blood cells.

computed tomographic colonography

A method to examine the inside of the colon by taking a series of x-rays.

computed tomography colonography

A scan that builds a walk-through view of the large bowel from x-ray slices, avoiding the camera but not the preparation.

CT colonography

A method to examine the inside of the colon by taking a series of x-rays.

granulocyte colony-stimulating factor

The body's own instruction to the bone marrow to step up production of the white cells that handle bacteria.

granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor

A substance that helps make more white blood cells, especially granulocytes, macrophages, and cells that become platelets.

intracolonic

/ IN-truh-koh-LAH-nik /

Intracolonic means located, occurring, or administered within the colon.

sigmoid colon

Narrow, muscular and free to swing on its own fold of tissue, this segment collects more than its share of colon problems.

colorectal cancer

Because a polyp usually takes years to turn malignant, this is one of the few cancers screening can prevent rather than merely find early.

CTC

The scan can find a growth but cannot remove or sample one, so anything suspicious still ends in a scope procedure.

GM-CSF

A signal that tells the marrow to produce the cells that fight infection, and that doubles as an alarm molecule in inflamed tissue.

HNPCC

The inherited cancer syndrome named for the polyps it does not produce, now generally called Lynch syndrome for exactly that reason.

irritable bowel syndrome

Normal test results form part of the picture rather than evidence that nothing is wrong, which is the point most often misread.

-scopy

Looking inside with an instrument, an act named separately from the instrument that does it and from any image recorded.