Colorectal cancer screening saves lives

Courtesy American Cancer Society YouTube

CANCER DIGEST – June 4, 2014 – Screening for colorectal cancer is working, according to a massive analysis of data from National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. SEER logs information from all cancer cases in the U.S. The analysis looked at screening for colorectal cancer over three decades from 1986 to 2010 and cancer colorectal cancer incidence between 1976 and 2009. They found that from 1987 to 2010 the percentage of adults 50 and older who underwent colorectal cancer screening increased from 34.8 percent to 66.1 percent. During that time the incidence of late-stage colorectal cancer declined from 118 cases per 100,000 people to 74 cases per 100,000 people. The incidence of early-stage colorectal cancer also decreased from 77 cases per 100,000 to 67 cases per 100,000. After adjusting for trends in cancer incidence, the researchers calculated that colorectal cancer screening could be linked to a 550,000 reduction in the number of cases. They published their results online in the June 3, 2014 journal Cancer.

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