Colon cancer screening is up and new cases and deaths from the country's No. 2 cancer killer are down, a new study shows.
"It's good news today. Colon cancer deaths are down significantly, and even more progress is possible," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Thomas Frieden said.
According to the CDC report, new cases decreased by 66,000 from 2003 to 2007, and deaths dropped by nearly 32,000 during that time.
Frieden said that though there's been "a remarkable increase in the level of screening" over the past decade nearly two-thirds of Americans ages 50 to 75 were screened by 2010, compared with 52% in 2002 the momentum is slowing and numbers appear to be leveling off.
He said that for the 22 million Americans who are unscreened, the doctor-patient dialogue isn't where it should be. "The strongest risk factor is not being told to be screened by your doctor."
The report drew from state-level data from a 2002-10 survey to determine the number of people screened for colon cancer. Numbers of new cases diagnosed between 2003 and 2007 are from CDC's National Program of Cancer Registries and National Cancer Institute data. Deaths are based on information from the CDC's National Vital Statistics tracking system.
Said Oleh Haluszka, chief of Gastroenterology at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia: "Every time I see a new colon cancer patient, I look at it as a failure. This shows the system is breaking down somewhere. The vast majority of cases are totally preventable."
Some patients are difficult to reach, experts said.
Some only see their health care provider when they're sick, and those with poor or no health insurance do not go at all, said professor Roshan Bastani, associate director of cancer prevention and control research at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. She pointed out that two-thirds of those going unscreened are low-income.
After age 50, Frieden said, there are three ways to get screened:
Colonoscopy, done every 10 years. A doctor uses a scope to detect and remove polyps in the entire colon.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy, done every five years to detect polyps in the first third of colon.
At-home stool kit, done annually. It detects blood in the stool and is used in combination with other tests.
People with a family history should talk with their doctor about having screening tests sooner and at more regular intervals, Haluszka said.
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