U.S. Preventive Medicine: Knowing Risk Factors & Early Detection are Best Strategies for Colon Cancer ...( DALLAS July 14 /- Colon and recta...),Health

DALLAS, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Colon and rectal cancer (colorectal cancer) kill approximately 50,000 people annually and are second only to lung cancer in cancer deaths, yet preventive measures could save many of these lives, according to Boyd Lyles, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of U.S. Preventive Medicine(R), (http://www.USPreventiveMedicine.com), an organization specializing in prevention.

The best preventive strategies include alerting health care practitioners about family history, understanding other risk factors, following a healthy lifestyle and making sure to receive early detection tests regularly, he said. The cancer is particularly dangerous to those with risk factors for the disease.

Colon cancer can be a devastating disease, a fact that hits close to home for U.S. Preventive Medicine's top officer, Christopher Fey. It is one of the reasons he founded a company to focus completely on prevention.

"My father died of colon cancer when I was a year old. I never knew him. Growing up without a father is not easy," said Fey, U.S. Preventive Medicine(R) founder, Chairman and CEO. "The good news about colon cancer is that early detection can have a profound impact on both saving lives and long-term cost savings. In the United States, colonoscopy is one of the preferred screening options. I've had multiple optical colonoscopies, as well as the new virtual colonoscopy. Knowing one's risk factors coupled with early detection are keys to finding colon cancer early."

"Unfortunately our 'sick care' system is not designed to focus on prevention and we see too many people dying from this and other diseases that can be prevented. We must push prevention, early detection and chronic disease management to the forefront of the health care continuum. No one should have to die from colon cancer when we have colonoscopies and other preventive therapies to diagnose and treat such d
'/>"/>