A recent study published in the journal GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy has found that patients whose colorectal cancer is diagnosed during screening colonoscopy have a higher survival rate than those who are diagnosed after having symptom.
Here are five key points on the study.
1. The study examined 312 patients in 10 German gastroenterology practices. All patients were 55 years of age or older and were diagnosed with CRC between 2003 and 2005.
2. Of these patients, 60 were diagnosed during screening colonoscopy, while the remaining patients had their cancer detected during a diagnostic colonoscopy.
3. The patients included in the study were followed for up 10 years after the CRC diagnosis.
4. The patients in the screening colonoscopy group lived an average of 20.2 months longer than the patient in the group where cancer was detected during a diagnostic colonoscopy.
5. Approximately 55 percent of the patients in the diagnostic colonoscopy group survived beyond the study period, while approximately 77 percent of patients in the screening colonoscopy group survived beyond the study period.