Selections from current literature: screening for colorectal cancer

Of the five modalities currently used to screen for colorectal cancer, the DRE is the least useful as a solitary screening tool. Also, while FOBT is widely used, its high false positive rate and uncertain cost benefit ratio make it less than ideal as a screening tool. Flexible sigmoidoscopy in a well defined regimen, has been shown to result in a decrease in CRC mortality. Paramedical personnel with a moderate amount of training have been shown to be able to safely and efficiently perform screening sigmoidoscopy. This has the potential to make it widely available at an affordable cost to the general population; however, its limitations, namely its ability to detect only lesions found in the distal colon, need to be kept in mind. With all limitations in the above mentioned screening modalities, colonoscopy may be the best tool to detect colorectal cancers. It has a significant advantage over DCBE of being both a diagnostic and therapeutic tool; however, it is imperative that a randomized controlled trial be performed to fully document its potential efficacy, advantages and disadvantages. Finally while genetic testing looms on the horizon as a promising new tool for CRC screening, at this time there are still too many unanswered questions and dilemmas, ethical as well as others, to warrant its use in the general clinical setting. However, maybe in the future, CRC screening will involve a simple blood test performed at birth, or perhaps even prenatally.