Doctors expect an increase in intestinal diseases. But the precautionary options are currently not being used enough. The Munich doctor Berndt Birkner knows why this is – and explains why it is important to have a colonoscopy.
Colon cancer is the most common cancer after breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. According to the AOK Scientific Institute, 76,600 people in Bavaria received this diagnosis in 2021 alone, and nationwide there were even more than half a million people. The early detection services such as stool tests and colonoscopy, which are available for men aged 50 and over and women aged 55 and over, are still underused. Berndt Birkner, 75, gastroenterologist and president of the network against colon cancer, explains why this is so.