March 18, 2008 -Cancer is a dreaded word, especially for people age 50 or older. But one form of the disease, the colorectal variety, usually can be beaten with the help of a comprehensive, albeit unpleasant, procedure known as a colonoscopy. A new American Cancer Society report endorses a variant on the test that should make colon cancer screening more appealing.

Millions of people don't want to undergo the two-day colonoscopy procedure, and here the American Cancer Society report offers an alternative. The report was done in conjunction with the US Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer, composed primarily of gastroenterologists, who do colonoscopies, and the American College of Radiology.

The radiologists have their own procedure - the computed tomographic colonography (CTC), or virtual colonoscopy. It uses X-rays and computers to produce multiple images of the inside of the colon. It requires a day-long fast and colon purge, but the procedure takes only a few minutes without sedation.

Insurance companies generally cover the regular kind, but not the virtual colonoscopy. But if millions of people continue to shun them, the virtual option is much better than nothing. Both kinds should be covered by insurance to spare older Americans the ordeal of the advanced form of the disease.