USPSTF Recommends Range of Screening Options for Colorectal Cancer

By Kelly Young

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force strongly recommends that clinicians routinely screen patients for colorectal cancer at ages 50 through 75 (A recommendation). The recommendation statement, in part a reaffirmation of the group's 2008 advice, is published in JAMA.

For those aged 76 to 85, the decision to undergo colorectal cancer screening should be made on a case-by-case basis, using the patient's overall health and screening history as a guide (C recommendation). Those who have never been screened are more likely to benefit than those who've been screened. In addition, screening is more likely to benefit those who are healthy enough to undergo colorectal cancer treatment and who don't have other medical conditions limiting their life expectancy.

Screening in adults aged 86 and older is not recommended.

Specific screening strategies aren't ranked, but a table of seven available screening approaches is provided.

Editorialists note: "The unique feature of the 2016 recommendations is that a goal — to increase screening rates — is driving the implementation strategy, which is to use shared decision making about an unusually broad range of screening options."