Saturday Colonoscopies a Success for Patients

The “not-always-easy” factor is one reason why some people put off getting a colonoscopy. To emphasize the importance of these screenings, clinicians at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), part of Jefferson Health, want to eliminate this factor. Their most recent offering was colonoscopies on Saturdays during the month of March – Colon Cancer Awareness Month – to make them easier to fit into patients’ and healthcare workers’ schedules. 

Primary care physician Stacey Smith, MD, with LVPG Internal Medicine–3080 Hamilton Blvd., was seven years overdue when he had his colonoscopy on a Saturday. “It was making screening convenient that made it possible for me to get caught up,” he says. “I had my screening on March 21 at the Nazareth Endoscopy Center in Easton. Everything was very simple and quick, with zero discomfort.”

Teams spread out across LVHN and Jefferson to provide Saturday scheduling and were happy to see a good turnout. On the first Saturday alone, a total of 40 patients received colonoscopies across six LVHN campuses with only a 15% cancellation rate. And the colonoscopies were completed before noon.

At three Lehigh Valley endoscopy centers, 69 total patients were screened. Twenty-eight were found to have precancerous polyps (adenomas), giving this Saturday initiative an adenoma detection rate (ADR) of 40.6%. A 25% rate is considered good for a mixed-gender population, as this was. 

At Jefferson’s two locations, a total of 129 men and women were screened over four Saturdays. 

“This is a tremendous service for our community in both raising awareness for colon cancer screening and prevention as well as screening those patients who would otherwise not want to come in on a weekday – hence the low cancellation rate,” says Bogdan Protyniak MD, with LVPG Colon and Rectal Surgery.

At Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Hazleton, the team praised the effort. “Out of the six colonoscopies performed, only one of them was negative,” one team member said. “Three patients needed polypectomies (removal of polyps), and two patients were diagnosed with mild colitis. It was a great idea to offer this to our community.”

Patients who took advantage of the opportunity also had positive reports. Anna McKay, 50, had her very first colonoscopy on Saturday, March 7, at LVH–Schuylkill. She said it was a great experience all around, especially since the clinicians and nurses were “so friendly and nice.” 

“The Saturday appointment was just perfect. The team explained everything. You could tell they really cared about the patients,” McKay says. “If it had been on a weekday, my husband would have had to take off work to pick me up and would not have gotten paid.”

Colon cancer is unique in that it usually begins with precancerous polyps, and these can be removed during a colonoscopy. Therefore, screenings are preventive tools, highlighting their importance.

“Other common cancers like those of the lung, breast, prostate or pancreas do not have an identifiable precancerous stage that can be addressed to prevent the cancer from occurring in the first place,” says Anthony Auteri, MD, Chief, LVPG Gastroenterology. “Because colon cancers almost always start as benign polyps that grow for many years before turning cancerous, colonoscopy and removal of polyps can actually prevent colon cancer.”