Seattle, WA – While a combination of earlier detection and better treatments have yielded a steady decline in the colorectal cancer death rate over the past 20 years, colorectal cancer will kill an estimated 50,310 people in the U.S. in 2014, including 970 Washington residents, according to the American Cancer Society.
- Tests that detect precancerous polyps and cancer:
- Flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years; or
- Colonoscopy every 10 years; or
- Double contrast barium enema (DCBE) every five years; or
- CT colonography (CTC) every five years.
- Tests that primarily detect cancer:
- Yearly guaiac-based fecal occult blood test (gFOBT) with high test sensitivity for cancer (older versions of the Fecal Occult Blood Test should not be used to test for colorectal cancer); or
- Yearly fecal immunochemical test (FIT) with high test sensitivity for cancer; or
- Stool DNA test (sDNA).
This information is from a press release from the American Cancer Society.