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In 2000, the U.K. instituted a pilot screening program for colorectal cancer using fecal occult blood testing (FOBT). Biennial FOBT screening was offered to all individuals aged 50 to 69 who had a primary care provider in the Coventry and Warwickshire areas of England; those with positive results were offered colonoscopy. In this retrospective analysis, which included data from more than 100,000 patients in each screening round, researchers evaluated whether the pilot program led to a reduction in emergency care among patients with colorectal cancer at the largest hospital system in the Coventry and Warwickshire areas.
In 1999, before the pilot program started, 29.4% of colorectal cancer patients were admitted as emergencies; by 2005, that p…