Task force changes guidelines on colon cancer screening tests

Patients ages 50-75 should talk to their physician about the risks and benefits of different screening methods for colon cancer, according to a new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

Previously the task force recommended patients in this age group be screened with either a colonoscopy or a flexible sigmoidoscopy.

In the new recommendation, USPSTF shifts the emphasis from focusing on specific screening methods to encouraging more adults to be screened for colorectal cancer, which has been proven to substantially reduce deaths from the disease among adults aged 50 to 75 years, according to the task force’s report in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Screening tests can help find colon polyps and identify colon cancer, which sometimes has no symptoms. However, about one-third of adults aged 50 or older (22 million people) have not been screened as recommended, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“What really matters is they get screened for colorectal cancer,” Douglas Owens, MD, a former member of the USPSTF who worked on the new recommendation, told Reuters Health.

For older adults (ages 76-85), the task force advises taking a patient’s overall health and prior screening history into account.

“The people who would be most likely to benefit are those who have not been screened before, people who are healthy enough to undergo treatment for colorectal cancer, and people who don’t have other conditions that would limit their life expectancy substantially,” Dr. Owens says.