Endoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure for the examination of body cavities and hollow organs.  Diseases can be detected and, where possible, treated at the same time.

Every year, about 4,500 Austrians develop colon cancer.   With an average life expectancy of 80 years, this is one in twenty Austrians.

Colon cancer develops from small, initially benign polyps.  You can neither see them from the outside nor feel them, which makes them so treacherous.

A colonoscopy is the only procedure during which these polyps can be detected and removed at the same time.  Colorectal cancer prevention does not aim at discovering the disease at an early stage, but at preventing it from developing in the first place.  This works by removing the harmless precursors as soon as possible.

Our health care system envisages this check-up from the age of 50.  If you have relatives who developed colon cancer, you should consider having yourself examined from the age of 40.  Patients who are insured under the public health insurance scheme do not have to pay for this check-up!  Gastroscopies and colonoscopies can be performed with sedation, which means that the patient will sleep during the procedure.