Comment on impact on colorectal cancer mortality of screening programmes based on the faecal immunochemical test

Sir, Zorzi et al1 are to be commended for their timely analysis of the impact of using a faecal immunochemical test (FIT) on colorectal cancer mortality in their screening programme. The 24% colorectal cancer mortality reduction they report will surely give impetus to efforts to introduce FIT into other screening programmes. As they rightly observe, the impact of these newer screening tests is likely only to be determined from observational studies such as their study rather than further randomised trials. Nevertheless, some of their findings are quite surprising. It is remarkable that the mortality reduction they report should have been evident so early, within 5 years of starting to screen, when in the randomised trials a lower mortality from colorectal cancer was not apparent until over 5 years after screening started and for the reduction to be substantially greater in women than men when in these same trials the...
Source: Gut - Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Tags: PostScript Source Type: research