Reagan to Have Follow-Up Test of Colon Friday

President Reagan will enter Bethesda Naval Hospital on Friday for a follow-up examination of his colon, from which a cancerous tumor was removed in July, the White House announced today.

Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan will undergo a colonoscopy, the same type of examination that discovered the tumor last year.

After the tumor was found to be malignant, Reagan’s doctors said he should have colonoscopies every six months for the rest of his life to guard against the growth of new, potentially cancerous lesions.

This will be the first of those routine follow-up examinations.

2 Follow-Up Exams

Since the surgery July 13, in which a two-foot section of Reagan’s colon was removed, the President has had two routine follow-up exams that included blood tests and X-rays.

Reagan has said those exams, which did not include colonoscopies, showed that his recovery from surgery is “100% complete.”

A colonoscopy involves the insertion of a long, flexible tube into the colon to permit doctors to visually examine the bowel wall, which sometimes produces fleshy growths known as polyps, which can grow into cancerous lesions.

Speakes said today that it has not been determined whether the President will spend Friday night at the hospital after the examination. He said that depending on how Reagan feels, the weather and whether there is any post-examination bleeding.