Screening saves Australians
May 31, 2012
NEW Australian research has
provided the first concrete
evidence that early detection from
bowel cancer screening
corresponds with improved
prognosis for the disease.
“Our research reveals that
cancers detected in people who are
screened as part of an organised
screening program (namely Australia’s
National Bowel Cancer Screening
Program) will be detected earlier
than those identified due to other
reasons, such as symptoms or
family history,” said Professor of
Global Gastrointestinal Health at
Flinders University, Graeme Young,
who led the research project.
“Bowel cancers detected at an
early stage are highly curable,
reducing the chance of death from
the disease,” he added.
The aim of Dr Young’s research
was to see whether bowel cancer
detected through the National
Bowel Cancer Screening Program
(NBCSP) is found at an earlier stage
than bowel cancer detected by
other pathways (such as symptoms
or a family history), and to determine
if there is a link between the
different stages of bowel cancer
and patient age, gender,
socioeconomic status and location.
The study looked at all people
diagnosed with bowel cancer in SA
who were aged 55-75, and
diagnosed between 2003 - 2008
and compared the figures with the
NBCSP register to see if people
diagnosed with bowel cancer had
been invited to be screened with
FIT, and if their diagnosis was
made within one year after their
screening invitation.
According to the results, a total
of 3,481 cases of bowel cancer
were diagnosed; 221 of these
cases were diagnosed within one
year of people being invited to
been screened by the NBCSP,
whilst 3,206 cases of bowel cancer
were detected in other ways.
Of those 221 cases detected after
the NBCSP invite the study found
that they were twice as likely to be
diagnosed with Stage A bowel
cancer, compared to cases diagnosed
in other ways (34.8% versus 19.2%).
The people with cancer detected
by NBCSP were also half as likely to
be diagnosed with stage D bowel
cancer when compared to cases
diagnosed in other ways (5.4%
versus 12.4%).
In addition the study found that
people who returned a positive FIT
test were less likely to be
diagnosed with stage D cancer
(2.6% versus 12.4%).
The study also found age,
gender, socioeconomic status and
location had no effect on the stage
of cancer diagnosed by NBCSP.
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