Guidelines that recommend stool-based screening for colorectal cancer should emphasize strict adherence and offer screening colonoscopy as an alternative option, researchers reported in Gastroenterology.
“The reasoning for undertaking this investigation hinged on the decades-long belief that CRC was preceded by polyps; this was proven by our National Polyp Study, which demonstrated prevention of CRC by colonoscopic polypectomy. Screening colonoscopy was then incorporated into guidelines,” co-principal study investigators Sidney J. Winawer, MD, and Ann G. Zauber, PhD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, told Healio. “However, studies needed to be initiated to observe its adherence and effectiveness.”