Colonoscopy is a test to examine the inside of the bowel using a long thin tube with a camera at its tip. Colonoscopy is done by specialist doctors called endoscopists.
The main purpose of colonoscopy is to look for cancer or polyps, which are abnormal growths that could become cancer. Adenomas are the most common types of polyps.
Doctors will arrange for someone to have a colonoscopy (also called ‘a scope’) if they have symptoms of possible bowel cancer, if they have had a previous bowel problem, if bowel cancer runs in their family, or if they have had an abnormal result on a test ('faecal occult blood test') done as part of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program or via their general practitioner or pharmacist.
Regular colonoscopy repeated every few years is recommended for some people. These include people who have previously had cancer, people who have had pre-cancerous polyps removed, some people who have inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and people with a strong family history of bowel cancer.
These guidelines contain information for doctors about how to do colonoscopy, how often to do it and repeat it, and how to care for people when cancer or other bowel disease is found. These guidelines are an update of the 2011 guidelines for surveillance colonoscopy, and follow on from the current national bowel (colorectal) cancer guidelines, which were updated in 2017.