March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. IBC encourages you to reach out to
all of your patients meeting the colon cancer screening criteria to ensure they
receive the necessary colon cancer screenings.
Your personal recommendation has a tremendous influence on patients? decisions
to seek recommended preventive health screenings, and adherence to the
colorectal cancer screening guidelines may lead to improved patient outcomes.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for men
and women in the United States. Colon cancer is a highly treatable and possibly
curable disease if found in its early stages. We urge you to encourage your
patients approaching age 50 (age 45 for African Americans) to be screened for
colorectal cancer. Those patients with certain risk factors or family history
should be screened earlier, starting at age 40, or ten years younger than the
youngest relative diagnosed with colon cancer. New guidelines also recommend
that patients with a history of irritable bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, or
Crohn's disease be screened ten years after symptoms begin.
Screening options
Screening does not necessarily mean colonoscopy. Although this is the most
specific diagnostic screening and should be the screening of choice for
high-risk patients, alternative methods such as fecal occult blood test (FOBT)
or fecal immunochemical test (FIT) can be used for patients with average risk.
Please discuss all screening options with your patients. Individual clinical
decisions should be tailored to specific patient medical and psychosocial needs.
To view our plan-adopted guidelines, see
Medical
Policy #11.03.12j: Colorectal Cancer Screening, available on our medical
policy portal. The information contained within this policy is adapted from
national sources and may evolve rapidly. As changes occur, please update your
recommendations accordingly.