Last Decade Brought New Guidelines, Detection Methods for Colon Cancer Screening

Extract

When scientists met at the International Workshop on Colorectal Cancer Screening in 1994, widespread screening was still under discussion, regular colonoscopy was just being considered as an option for screening, and virtual colonoscopy was given one of its first public demonstrations.

Ten years later, there are now firm screening recommendations, and about half of eligible people get screened. But the options appear to be in transition and newer technologies, including virtual colonoscopy, have entered the pool.

Several organizations, including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, now recommend that all adults age 50 and older get screened for colon cancer by one of four methods: annual fecal occult blood test (FOBT), flexible sigmoidoscopy or barium enema every 5 years, or colonoscopy every 10 years. However, barium enema is “on the endangered species list,” and sigmoidoscopy is close behind it, said Bernard Levin, M.D., vice president for cancer prevention at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.