GN inflates giant colon to encourage cancer screening

“A poop test can save someone’s life,” says Dr. Ekua Agyemang, Nunavut’s acting chief public health officer.

To spread that message, Nunavut’s Department of Health is bringing a giant inflatable colon to communities across the territory.

Measuring six metres long and three metres tall, the colon made its debut in Rankin Inlet in May as the territorial government launched a new colorectal cancer screening program.

Iqaluit residents also had the opportunity to walk through the colon earlier this month when it was set up at Canada Day and Nunavut Day festivities. It has also visited Kimmirut and Clyde River.

“It’s a hands-on experience that will resonate with all ages, and it visually [demonstrates] the progression of colon cancer disease,” Agyemang said in an interview.

The inflatable colon cost $17,000, Agyemang said. But that purchase pales in comparison to the cost of treating colorectal cancer.

“Early treatment — that is only the polyp — is just about $25,000,” she said.

For more advanced stages, “you are looking at over $200,000, $300,000 to treat just one person.”

Colorectal cancer is Nunavut’s second most common type of cancer behind lung cancer, according to the latest report from Agyemang’s office.

The 2022 Nunavut cancer report identified 130 colorectal cancer cases between 2008 and 2017, accounting for almost 20 per cent of cancer diagnoses for that period in the territory.

The Department of Health is rolling out fecal immunochemical test kits – abbreviated as FIT kits – to health centres across the territory.

All residents ages 50 to 74 are encouraged to pick up a free kit, which can be administered at home in your bathroom, and then returned to the health centre for processing.

If a test comes back and blood is found in the stool — an early indicator of colon cancer — the patient will be called in for a colonoscopy to identify if there is cancer and at what stage. Colonoscopies and early treatment can be done at the Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit.

Nunavummiut with relatives who had colorectal cancer should start seeking regular screening at an age 10 years younger than when that family member was diagnosed, Agyemang said.

Colon cancer can be deadly or result in the removal of the rectum if left untreated.

But, if found in time, it is almost 90 per cent treatable, Agyemang said, “And people can live their full life.”

The GN’s screening program has rolled out to all Qikiqtani and Kivalliq communities.

When the rollout continues in Kitikmeot later this year, the inflatable colon will make appearances in Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk.

A free fecal immunochemical test kit, known as a FIT kit, is one tool Nunavut’s health department uses to screen for colorectal cancer, the second most common form of cancer in the territory. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Health)

So far, the appearance of the giant colon has resulted in an “uptake” in screening, and “some” tests come back positive, Agyemang said.

“As we send the inflatable colon around and we talk about it, it’s breaking these barriers, reducing the stigma around colon cancer,” she said.

“People who might have been eligible but are afraid of colonoscopy … Now, their family members also know about it and can encourage them to seek the care that they need.”