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The effect of a screening programme on the outcome of colorectal cancer
Author(s) -
Suttie S. A.,
Shaikh I. A.,
Amin A. I.,
Daniel T.,
Yalamarthi S.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
colorectal disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.029
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1463-1318
pISSN - 1462-8910
DOI - 10.1111/j.1463-1318.2011.02842.x
Subject(s) - medicine , colorectal cancer , cancer , biopsy , population , prospective cohort study , gastroenterology , surgery , oncology , environmental health
Aim The study aimed to determine whether the introduction of a screening programme for colorectal cancer influenced resection and recurrence rates and prognosis. Method Details of patients with a biopsy‐confirmed diagnosis of colorectal cancer attending from January 2002 to December 2006 were entered into a prospective database. All were followed to death or the end of the study period (December 2008). Patients with a synchronous cancer were excluded from analysis. A comparison was made between screen and non‐screen detected cancers for survival, disease‐free survival, location of the primary tumour, resection and recurrence rates. Results In all, 841 [median age 72 (30–101) years; 53% men] patients with colorectal cancer were identified. Of these 68 were screen detected of whom 63 underwent surgery. Screen detected cancers were significantly less advanced at presentation ( P = 0.001). There was no significant difference in primary tumour location between screen and non‐screen detected cancers ( P = 0.184). Among curative resections, significantly fewer screened compared with non‐screened cancers developed a recurrence [6/59 (10.2%) vs 105/491 (21.4%), P = 0.043]. The mean disease‐free survival for screen and non‐screen detected cancers was 78.3 and 65.0 months ( P = 0.010). Overall mean survival was significantly improved for screened (73.8 months) over non‐screened (57.9 months) detected cancers, P = 0.001. Conclusion Screening for colorectal cancer in this population significantly improved overall cancer‐related and disease‐free survival, possibly as a result of the detection of significantly more early staged cancers.