EviCore by Evernorth will add Guardant Health’s Shield blood test to its colorectal cancer screening coverage starting January 1, 2027, extending coverage across commercial payers in 23 states. Guardant says the move will bring the total number of people with coverage for Shield to approximately 94 million Americans ages 45 and older, following recent coverage expansions from Carelon and UnitedHealth Group. Shield is an FDA-approved blood-based screening test for average-risk adults aged 45 and older. A positive result still requires follow-up colonoscopy to evaluate for colorectal cancer or advanced adenomas. Guardant reports that more than 200,000 Shield tests have been…
Author: Abhay Panchal
An Epic Research analysis of 11,469 adults ages 18–44 found that very low liver enzyme levels were associated with a higher likelihood of colorectal cancer diagnosed around the time of first screening. Compared with AST and ALT levels of 14–29 U/L, AST below 14 U/L was associated with a 65% higher likelihood of early-onset CRC, while ALT below 14 U/L was associated with a 68% higher likelihood. In contrast, AST ≥30 U/L and ALT ≥30 U/L were associated with 22% and 29% lower likelihoods, respectively. A rising AST or ALT over the preceding three years was also associated with a…
A global risk-attribution analysis suggests that exposure to Helicobacter pylori may be associated with 22% of colorectal cancer cases worldwide. Researchers pooled data from 43 studies involving nearly 48.7 million people and found that H. pylori exposure was associated with a 1.6-fold higher risk of colorectal cancer compared with no exposure. However, the estimated attributable fraction fell to 12% when the analysis was restricted to 14 population-based and cohort studies. The analysis also found that H. pylori eradication was associated with lower colorectal cancer risk in four observational studies, but the reduction appeared only after 10 years. The authors stress…
The FDA has cleared a clinical trial at the University of Colorado Anschutz testing an experimental CAR T-cell therapy in adults with advanced colorectal cancer who have exhausted standard treatment options. The engineered immune cells are designed to simultaneously target B7-H3, a protein found on many colorectal tumors, and IL-8, a pathway involved in tumor growth, inflammation and cancer spread. CAR T-cell therapies have shown major success in blood cancers but have been much harder to develop for solid tumors. The researchers hope the dual-target approach will help engineered T cells overcome the tumor microenvironment and produce more durable responses.…
A remotely controlled robotic capsule developed by Endiatx is designed to swim through the stomach using six directional water jets, allowing a physician to steer it and view live images. The device contains a camera, lights, accelerometer and wireless transmitter, and the company has raised about $21 million during more than five years of development. Human trials began in New Zealand in 2024. The technology is intended primarily as a less invasive way to examine the stomach. The article notes that roughly 80% of upper endoscopies find nothing significant, suggesting a potential future role for a swallowable device that could…
A retrospective study of 383 patients undergoing bariatric surgery at UCSF found that prior GLP-1 receptor agonist use was not associated with differences in weight loss, diabetes control or postoperative complications at one year. Among 92 patients who had used GLP-1 therapy before surgery and 291 who had not, mean total body weight loss was 24% vs. 25%, while excess body weight loss was 60% vs. 62%. Neither difference was statistically significant. One-year HbA1c was similarly low in both groups (5.4% vs. 5.3%), and operative time, hospital stay, emergency visits and surgical complications were also comparable.
Gastroenterologists could see lower Medicare reimbursement across nearly every site of service in 2027 under CMS’s proposed payment rules. The AGA estimates an average 5% decline for office-based endoscopy and about 3% for endoscopy performed in ASCs and hospital outpatient departments. Facility payment cuts would be particularly pronounced for some upper-GI procedures, with ASC payments for many upper endoscopies projected to fall about 8%. The proposed conversion factors would also fall, by 1.19% for qualifying APM participants and 1.68% for others, following expiration of the temporary 2.5% increase enacted for 2026. Another significant change would replace G2211 with a percentage-based…
A reanalysis of Sweden’s population-based colorectal cancer screening program suggests that the mortality benefit of fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) may have been underestimated. In a prospective cohort of 376,511 adults ages 60–69, researchers adjusted for two sources of contamination: people in the screening group who developed CRC more than two years after their last invitation, and controls who were later invited to screening. After these adjustments, invitation to screening was associated with a 26% reduction in CRC mortality. When the analysis additionally accounted for nonadherence, participation in screening was associated with a 43% reduction in CRC mortality (RR, 0.57;…
The 13-year follow-up of the NORDICC randomized trial found that a single screening colonoscopy reduced colorectal cancer incidence but did not demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in CRC mortality. Among 28,217 participants assigned to screening and 56,366 assigned to no screening, CRC incidence was 1.46% vs 1.80% (ITT RR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.71–0.90), while CRC mortality was 0.41% vs 0.47% (ITT RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.68–1.08). Only 42% of those assigned to screening actually underwent colonoscopy. The per-protocol analysis showed a larger reduction in CRC incidence (RR, 0.55), and the benefit appeared greater in men than women. Gastroenterologist Aasma Shaukat…
A Northwestern Medicine study of nearly 18,600 colonoscopies performed by 55 physicians found that an AI tool could accurately assess several colonoscopy quality metrics from procedure videos. Its measurement of withdrawal time closely matched nurse-recorded times, while the system also tracked metrics such as polyps removed and use of cold snare polypectomy—measures the researchers say are difficult to assess manually at scale. The tool could provide a scalable way for hospitals and health systems to routinely monitor colonoscopy performance and give clinicians feedback. The researchers emphasize that it is designed to assess procedures after they are completed, rather than replace…