Life Expectancy and Colorectal Cancer Screening
Authors: Cary P. Gross, Gail J. McAvay, Mary E. Tinetti
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2007)

Letters15 May 2007Life Expectancy and Colorectal Cancer ScreeningCary P. Gross, MD, Gail J. McAvay, PhD, and Mary E. Tinetti, MDCary P. Gross, MDFrom Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520.Search for more papers by this author, Gail J. McAvay, PhDFrom Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520.Search for more papers by this author, and Mary E. Tinetti, MDFrom Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-146-10-200705150-00018 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail IN RESPONSE:Colorectal cancer screening can benefit patients through 2 mechanisms. First, a screening colonoscopy will increase the likelihood of early-stage cancer diagnosis among patients with prevalent disease (1). Because of the slow-growing nature of colorectal cancer, clinical benefits of this stage shift take years to accrue (1, 2). This is because the colorectal cancer survival benefit is due to the detection and treatment of early-stage cancer that otherwise would not have resulted in death for at least 5 years. Hence, further understanding of life expectancy after early-stage cancer diagnosis should inform decision making about screening by identifying patients who ...References1. Mandel JS, Bond JH, Church TR, Snover DC, Bradley GM, Schuman LM, et al. Reducing mortality from colorectal cancer by screening for fecal occult blood. Minnesota Colon Cancer Control Study. N Engl J Med. 1993;328:1365-71. [PMID: 8474513] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Kronborg O, Fenger C, Olsen J, Jørgensen OD, Søndergaard O. Randomised study of screening for colorectal cancer with faecal-occult-blood test. Lancet. 1996;348:1467-71. [PMID: 8942774] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Loeve F, Boer R, van Oortmarssen GJ, van Ballegooijen M, Habbema JD. The MISCAN-COLON simulation model for the evaluation of colorectal cancer screening. Comput Biomed Res. 1999;32:13-33. [PMID: 10066353] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Mandel JS, Church TR, Bond JH, Ederer F, Geisser MS, Mongin SJ, et al. The effect of fecal occult-blood screening on the incidence of colorectal cancer. N Engl J Med. 2000;343:1603-7. [PMID: 11096167] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Ries LAG, Harkins D, Krapcho M, Mariotto A, Miller BA, Feuer EJ, et al., eds. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2003. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; 2006. Accessed at seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2003/ on 3 April 2007. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Cary P. Gross, MD; Gail J. McAvay, PhD; Mary E. Tinetti, MDAffiliations: From Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520.Disclosures: None disclosed. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoThe Effect of Age and Chronic Illness on Life Expectancy after a Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer: Implications for Screening Cary P. Gross , Gail J. McAvay , Harlan M. Krumholz , A. David Paltiel , Devina Bhasin , and Mary E. Tinetti Life Expectancy and Colorectal Cancer Screening Robert C. Burack Metrics 15 May 2007Volume 146, Issue 10Page: 758-759KeywordsAdenomasCancer detection and diagnosisCancer screeningCancer treatmentColorectal cancerColorectal cancer screeningDecision makingLesionsLife expectancySurvival analysis ePublished: 15 May 2007 Issue Published: 15 May 2007 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2007 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...