Guidelines on colon cancer screening pegged for update

Researchers suggest refinements to reflect gender differences on neoplasia findings, as well as new technologies.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Dec. 4, 2006.

Washington -- A new study delineating possible revisions in colorectal cancer screening guidelines likely will attract the attention of physicians from an across-the-specialty spectrum who are engaged in debate and discussion in preparation for next year's release of updated recommendations.

Gastroenterologists, radiologists, surgeons, primary care physicians and others have joined forces as the U.S. Multisociety Task Force on Colorectal Cancer and are considering new data and new technologies in updates to their 1997 guidelines, which were last modified in 2003.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force plans to review its 2002 guidelines and could publish a new version next year that reflects changes in the field.

The study, "Colonoscopy in Colorectal-Cancer Screening for Detection of Advanced Neoplasia," which appeared in the Nov. 2 New England Journal of Medicine, could provide key talking points as efforts move forward. Conducted in Poland, the study analyzed data from a screening program of more than 50,000 participants. Researchers concluded that men had a considerably higher risk than women of harboring advanced neoplasia. This finding led them to suggest that screening requirements be revised to reflect this difference.

Currently men and women at average risk are urged to begin having screenings at age 50.

Colon cancer is the most frequently detected cancer in Europe and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, said the study's authors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 28,471 men and 28,132 women in the nation died of the cancer in 2002.