This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
What is the appropriate timing for colorectal cancer screening?
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends men and women at average risk for colorectal cancer undergo screening between the ages of 50 and 75 years.
Some individuals at greater risk for colorectal cancer may need to be screened while they are younger. Risk factors include a family member who had colorectal polyps or colorectal cancer; personal history of inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis; or history of familial adenomatous polyposis or Lynch syndrome.
In some patients at higher risk for familial adenomatous polyposis, yearly screening with sigmoidoscopy should begin between the ages of 10 and 12 years. Genetic testing also should be taken into consideration.
Although the recommendation for when to initiate colorectal cancer screening is definite, it is not definitively known when to stop screening, according to a paper published in Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.
According to the paper, individuals not expected to live more than 10 years should not undergo colorectal screenings. However, most available data exclude patients aged older than 70 years, making it “difficult to extrapolate the data for older patients,” researchers wrote.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) does not recommend regular colorectal cancer screening for individuals aged 76 to 85 years. However, an individualized assessment of each patient may support screening in this age group.
Anyone aged older than 85 years should not be screened for colorectal cancer, according to the USPSTF.
Additional information may be found at these websites:
www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspscolo.htm
www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/basic_info/screening/
http://ccjm.org/content/74/4/269