Akira Horiuchi, MD, was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for medical education for his colonoscopy research, The Japan Times reports.
Here's what you should know:
1. Dr. Horiuchi received the award for "Colonoscopy in the Sitting Position: Lessons Learned from Self-Colonoscopy," published in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in 2006.
2. In the paper, Dr. Horiuchi relays his personal experience performing a self-colonoscopy while sitting. The self-colonoscopy has been described as "the most comfortable colonoscopy technique."
3. Dr. Horiuchi performed the self-colonoscopy to show patients colonoscopies aren't painful, and fears over the procedure are often overblown.
4. Dr. Horiuchi said, "If people watch a video of my self-colonoscopy, they think colonoscopy is simple and easy."
5. The Ig Nobel Prize honors research that is comical but practical. The Ig Nobel Prizes often recognize unheralded research.