I have a question for you. If you were a Ferrari, would you let a mechanic who only worked on Ford Focus models take care of you? The answer is no. Ok, with that in mind, if you needed a colonoscopy to screen for colorectal cancer should you go to a general practitioner?

If you have a gastroenterologist in your community, I suggest you have him or her do your colonoscopy. The reason for this is that they are trained in doing the procedure and they know what to look for and what to do if they find something. General practitioners are trained in many procedures and do not have the specialized training.

An equally important reason is that a recent study has found that if one of the generalists vs. a gastroenterologist does your colonoscopy you are 39% more likely to need another procedure in a year.

If you have had a colonoscopy then you know that the preparation takes almost an entire day and is a time when you get to know your bathroom really well. Do you really want to go through the ultimate cleansing the following year? It is also quite expensive. So, it would be more cost effective to have a specialist do the procedure.

There are some communities where there may be no option to use a gastroenterologist. However, when you can you really might want to think about using one. It will probably be less painful all the way around.

Am J Gastroenterol advance online publication 24 August 2010; doi: 10.1038/ajg.2010.344