http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140317084843.htm
Colon Cancer Rates Have Dropped Dramatically
Colorectal cancer, normally called colon cancer, is the third most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in men and women in the United States. Its slow growth from precancerous polyp to invasive cancer provides a rare opportunity to prevent cancer through the detection and removal of precancerous growths. Screening also allows early detection of cancer, when treatment is more successful. As a result, screening reduces colorectal cancer mortality both by decreasing the incidence of disease and by increasing the likelihood of survival.
Colon cancer incidence rates have dropped 30 percent in the US in the last 10 years among adults 50 and older due to the widespread uptake of colonoscopy, with the largest decrease in people over age 65. Like incidence, mortality rates have also declined most rapidly within the past decade. From 2001 to 2010, rates decreased by approximately 3 percent per year in both men and women, compared with declines of approximately 2 percent per year during the 1990s.
The American Cancer Society recommends that people ages 50 and older should receive one of three types of screenings for colon cancer, which include a colonoscopy every 10 years, a stool test every year, or a sigmoidoscopy every five years in combination with stool tests every three to five years.
Colon Cancer Rates Have Dropped Dramatically
Colorectal cancer, normally called colon cancer, is the third most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death in men and women in the United States. Its slow growth from precancerous polyp to invasive cancer provides a rare opportunity to prevent cancer through the detection and removal of precancerous growths. Screening also allows early detection of cancer, when treatment is more successful. As a result, screening reduces colorectal cancer mortality both by decreasing the incidence of disease and by increasing the likelihood of survival.
Colon cancer incidence rates have dropped 30 percent in the US in the last 10 years among adults 50 and older due to the widespread uptake of colonoscopy, with the largest decrease in people over age 65. Like incidence, mortality rates have also declined most rapidly within the past decade. From 2001 to 2010, rates decreased by approximately 3 percent per year in both men and women, compared with declines of approximately 2 percent per year during the 1990s.
The American Cancer Society recommends that people ages 50 and older should receive one of three types of screenings for colon cancer, which include a colonoscopy every 10 years, a stool test every year, or a sigmoidoscopy every five years in combination with stool tests every three to five years.
