Colon cancer screenings are some of the most important preventative procedures available, but only half of adults between the ages of 50 and 75 are up-to-date on their screenings, according to a study published in Cancer. The National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT), a group of public, private and voluntary organizations, set a goal to increase screening rates to 80% by 2018. This objective may seem unattainable, but a recent study suggests that it all comes down to some simple mathematics.
Djenaba A. Joseph, M.D., M.P.H., medical director for the colorectal cancer control program for the Centers for Disease Control led a study that used mathematical modeling to estimate the number of colonoscopies or fecal immunochemical tests (FIT) that are needed annually to achieve the goal of screening 80 percent of eligible adults. Dr. Joseph and his team also used survey data from health care facilities that perform colonoscopies to determine the number of colonoscopies performed in the United States each year, as well as how many more procedures they could perform.
The researchers determined that if a national screening program started in 2014, about 47 million FIT procedures and 5.1 million colonoscopies are needed each year by 2024 to screen eligible individuals if FIT was the primary screening method. About 11 million to 13 million colonoscopies would need to be performed annually to screen the eligible population using only colonoscopies. Today, about 15 million colonoscopies were performed in America in 2012, but another 10.5 million could be performed.
“[Colorectal cancer] screening is conducted with a variety of tests, most commonly colonoscopy and less frequently [fecal occult blood testing] or FIT,” Joseph and colleagues wrote. “Although it is unlikely that all eligible adults will be screening with a single test type, this analysis shows that the estimated colonoscopy capacity would be sufficient to screen them with a mix of tests.”
Although colonoscopy remains the gold standard for colon screening, most doctors agree that the best screening method is the screening that gets done. Less invasive screenings can still be instrumental as the first step that leads a patient to scheduling a colonoscopy. If a patient has a positive result from a fecal occult blood test or a fecal immunochemical test, he or she will be more likely to schedule a follow-up colonoscopy (Source: Healio).
