Recent study reveals Colonoscopy is not an effective way to help reducing the death ratio due to colorectal cancers worldwide.
Before heading towards further analysis regarding the Colonoscopy, let’s have a short knowledge about what colonoscopy is.
Colonoscopy is a biological procedure used to examine the changes occurred in large-intestinal sections (colon and rectum). Changes may be irritation of muscles, swelling, tumours, rectal bleeding etc.
During this procedure, a large fibre tube (colonoscope) along with a camera, is inserted into rectum.
Colorectal cancer is the second major cause of cancer death across the world.
Studies show that screening for colorectal cancer minimises the threat of death from the condition. The most commonly used screening tests are fecal testing and colonoscopy, the insertion of a small camera into the gut.
Currently, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommends that people undergo a colonoscopy every 10 years from the age of 45.
However, the procedure has not been adopted in other areas of the world, partially due to a lack of randomized trials attesting to its benefits.
Understanding the possible advantages of a colonoscopy vis-a-vis other screening methods could help improve public health recommendations and colon cancer preventive strategies.
Recently, researchers re-evaluated the effectiveness of colonoscopy invitations in Poland, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands in reducing colon cancer-related deaths.
The study was recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers screened patients and found that colon cancer risk among those was lower compared to those who were not screened over a 10-year period but noted the effectiveness of preventing colon cancer was not as much as it was expected.
Data Evaluation
For the study, the researchers took 84,585 men and women ages 55 to 64 years old who had not went through colorectal cancer trial previously.
28,220 people were invited to receive a colonoscopy, out of which, 42%, underwent screening.
The researchers noted that 15 participants experienced major bleeding after polyp removal. However, no perforations or screening-related deaths happened in 30y
-days duration of colonoscopy.
After 10 years of screening, the researchers diagnosed 259 cases of colorectal cancer in the invited group compared to 622 cases in the usual-care group.
This translated to a 0.98% risk of colorectal cancer within 10 years in the invited group and a 1.2% risk in the usual care group.
Overall, the researchers noted that a colonoscopy invitation reduced the risk of developing colorectal cancer by 18%. They noted, however, that both groups had an almost identical risk of death from colorectal cancer at 10 years.
Some of the experts do not agree with the data analysis and suggest the results may have some limitations.
“The conclusion derived in the study that an 18 % reduction in colorectal cancer detection and nearly 0% lives saved due to colorectal cancer is misleading,” Dr. Vanitha Bala, a gastroenterologist at Memorial Hermann Medical Group in Houston, Texas, stated.
“If only the group that underwent screening [11,843 individuals] is considered, then the patient’s chance of colorectal cancer reduces by 31% (18% in the study), and the risk of death is reduced by 50% (0% in the study),” she noted.
