Almost half of the colorectal cases in the United States are diagnosed at late-stages of the diseases when treatment is more difficult, according to a new report released today by the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC). Significant findings of the study “Surveillance of Screening-Detected Cancers (Colon and Rectum, Breast, and Cervix) — United States, 2004-2006” include:

* Incidence rates of late-stage colorectal cancer increased with age and were highest among black men and women.
* Late-stage colon and rectum incidence rates ranged from 51.0 to 86.5, and were highest in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

“This report causes concern because so many preventable cancers are not being diagnosed when treatment is most effective,” said Marcus Plescia, MD, MPH, Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. “More work is needed to widely implement evidence-based cancer screening tests which may lead to early detection and, ultimately, an increase in the number of lives saved.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Too many people avoid colonoscopy.  Too invasive, they say.  Too scary, too risky.

There may be an answer for them in an improved stool test that looks for DNA that is changed in both colorectal cancer and some precancerous polyps.

Of course, if the stool test identifies possible polyps or cancer, a colonoscopy is critical to evaluate the findings and remove polyps.

The test that looks for methylated DNA in human feces, found 85 percent of cancers and 64 percent of large adenomas.  There were few false positives.  Only one in ten follow-up colonoscopies didn’t confirm cancer or adenomas. Read the rest of this entry »

When women come in for a mammography, that might be an excellent chance to discuss—and schedule—a screening colonoscopy. In particular, this could help increase colorectal cancer screening among minority women, according to a study reported online by the journal Cancer.

For two years between 2003 and 2005, researchers offered colonoscopies to more than 2,600 women who came to the Breast Examination Center of Harlem—an outreach program serving a mostly black and Hispanic community. All the women were over age 50 with no history of either colorectal cancer or screening. Read the rest of this entry »

Colorectal cancer screening programs targeted at the pre-Medicare population (ages 54-64) could pay for themselves in avoided future Medicare expenditures, according to a study released last week at the American College of Gastroenterology’s annual meeting.

Using a computer simulation program, researchers estimated the total lifetime costs for screening and any subsequent treatment of colorectal cancer in people over age 50, using three different kinds of testing (fecal occult blood test, or FOBT; a mix of FOBT and colonoscopy; or colonoscopy alone). Read the rest of this entry »

Only one in five primary care doctors in the U.S. follows all the guidelines for colorectal cancer screening, according to a new National Cancer Institute (NCI) study. Of the remaining doctors studied, about 40 percent followed guidelines for some tests; the remaining 40 percent didn’t follow any screening guidelines.

Robin Yabroff, PhD, an NCI epidemiologist, said that the survey of nearly 1,300 primary care physicians showed that many either overuse or underuse screening tests.

Most doctors did recommend initial screening at age 50, and many followed suggested intervals for a specific test. But only 19 percent followed guidelines for every type test.

Read the rest of this entry »