- In the United States, it’s recommended that people start getting screened for colorectal cancer with colonoscopies beginning at age 45.
- The guidelines recommend that colonoscopies be performed every 10 years until age 75.
- Researchers report that a new test for colorectal cancer that utilizes genetic risk factors may be able to reduce the frequency of colonoscopies for people considered at low risk.
Doctors could someday use a standardized risk score to assess patients for susceptibility to colorectal cancer and to determine how frequently a colonoscopy is needed.
A polygenic risk score (PRS) system for colorectal cancer is currently under development, researchers from the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) at the University of Helsinki reported at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics this week.
The findings haven’t been published yet in a peer-reviewed journal.
The score is intended to identify individuals at the highest risk of colorectal cancer and whether they would benefit from earlier screening for the disease.
“In the future, risk-based approaches considering genetic factors alongside other relevant risk factors have potential for personalizing recommendations regarding how we could most effectively screen for colorectal cancer,” Dr. Max Tamlander, a study co-author and doctoral researcher at FIMM, told conference attendees.
“People of different ancestries may have different risk factors and may therefore require different screening strategies,” said Dr. Liudmila Schafer, a medical oncologist specializing in gastrointestinal cancers and the founder of Doctor Connect.
“In order to improve the effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening, there is a need for more personalized recommendations such as genetic profiles,” Schafer, who was not involved in the study, told Medical News Today.
The scoring system is being developed based on the health and genetic records of more than 400,000 people in Finland.
“In the…
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