Fecal immunochemical testing may reduce colorectal cancer mortality

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

Population-based fecal immunochemical testing screening for colorectal cancer demonstrated a significant reduction in colorectal cancer mortality despite a short follow-up time, a new study published online in the journal Cancer has shown.

For the prospective cohort study, over 1.1 million Taiwanese people between the ages of 50 and 69 years underwent fecal immunochemical testing screening between 2004 and 2009. Researchers then compared colorectal cancer-specific mortality for a screened group with an unscreened group.

Results showed that fecal immunochemical testing screening reduced colorectal cancer-specific mortality by 62% with a maximum follow-up of 6 years. After adjustments for a self-selection bias, researchers found that screening reduced cancer-specific morality by 10%.

Although the findings show a significant reduction, this study has had a short follow-up time. Researchers plan to continue following-up this large cohort to assess the long-term effect of fecal immunochemical testing screening.