Updates, Controversies, and Emerging Approaches in Colorectal Screening

Tiffany Wang; Tyler Tsang; Alla Turshudzhyan; Heather Dacus; Micheal Tadros

doi:10.7759/cureus.17844

Updates, Controversies, and Emerging Approaches in Colorectal Screening

Cureus. 2021 Sep 9;13(9):e17844. doi: 10.7759/cureus.17844. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Authors

Tiffany Wang¹, Tyler Tsang¹, Alla Turshudzhyan², Heather Dacus³, Micheal Tadros⁴

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, Albany Medical College, Albany, USA.
² Internal Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, USA.
³ Internal Medicine, New York State Department of Health, New York, USA.
⁴ Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Albany Medical Center, Albany, USA.

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Despite the threatening statistics, the US burden for CRC has been decreasing, which is likely multifactorial and has partial contribution from widespread timely screening, more advanced CRC treatment, and daily aspirin use in some patients. While overall death rate from CRC decreased by approximately a half between 1975 and 2012, epidemiologic studies demonstrate that CRC incidence is increasing in the younger population. This pattern has prompted the American Cancer Society (ACS) to revise their guidelines. In this review, we plan to discuss the most recent changes in guidelines, data to support them, controversies concerning CRC screening methods, age to start and to stop screening, and post-colonoscopy/polypectomy surveillance guidelines.

Keywords: cancer screening; colonoscopy; colorectal cancer; mass screening; quality indicators; surveillance.

Publication types

Review