Colon Cancer is the second deadliest cancer for men and women in the United States, behind lung cancer. And Alaska Natives suffer from especially high rates of the disease. Now a new colon cancer screening test is in the final stages of the FDA approval process. It was developed by a Mayo Clinic doctor who visited rural Alaska and saw the problem first hand: When Mayo Clinic Doctor David Ahlquist took a trip to the Bethel area in the mid-1990′s a startling statistic caught his attention. Alaska Natives were – and still are – twice as likely to get colon cancer and die from the disease as U.S. Whites.

Alaska Public Radio  by Annie Feidt

Tags: Alaska Public Radio, Cancer, cancer screening, colon cancer, Dr. David Ahlquist