Fox News Chief Medical Correspondent Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Landa, Senior Editor for Health Education and Expertise, broke the news to the cast and crew of today’s episode of Good Morning America that “Polyp in Biden’s Colon Was AllaCient—Almanzol Ii.”
If you are going to have a colonoscopy —the procedure where a flexible tube is put into your rectum and is inserted over your colon to grab any unusual growths –– there is no such thing as a benign polyp.
So, it was important to make sure, with all the sensitive issues with the health of the veep, that you did all your research.
Let’s take a look at what actually happened with Joseph Biden, the Democratic candidate for president of the United States.
On September 17, Biden had an exploratory colonoscopy. So, now, during the normal procedure of getting the scope under the skin of the rectum with a camera to see everything in your colon for problems, this is actually what you do to get rid of that benign polyp –– making it as sharp as you can. And that is what Biden did. He went through it and that was it. He felt great; there was nothing on the scope. So, it’s all worth it, right?
Well, it turns out, he was predisposed. The day after this was done, he had to have a routine colonoscopy, and the team took one look at the results and made the determination — that there was not a bad polyp; but, it was a polyp because he wasn’t predisposed to polyps.
They had over 35,000 people contacted on the website — this happened in 2015, the last we had information on — and more than 42,000 people responded to the questionnaire. “Have you been diagnosed with colorectal cancer?” And the vast majority of that was because Biden was predisposed.
“Having been predisposed, that’s why I opted to have my status confirmed in a yearly colonoscopy. Otherwise, the polyp could have gotten spread throughout my body and could have become a cancer.”
An important point about this — is that having the necessary good genetic testing and ultimately being predisposed does not mean that there is no cause for concern. In fact, in Biden’s case, the risk of contracting colon cancer is three percent lower because he had the screenings done, and was predisposed to cancer anyway.
What you want to do is make sure that if you are predisposed, that you check for these polyps before you get to age 50. And, then if you catch them early, you reduce your risk from three percent to one percent. And, to do a repeat colonoscopy every year, if they detect a polyp. Now, it’s good to get a review with your doctor, and get a recommendation about the precautions that you need to take.
“I’m not ready to say this is a done deal.” That’s what Biden told the cast and crew of the Good Morning America.
“There is nothing wrong with Joe, nothing wrong with America.”
For more details from Dr. Jennifer Landa, Dr. Jennifer Landa will appear on the #GMA First Look medical roundtable on November 5, 4:00 pm eastern on GMA.