More cancer screening could reduce deaths: report
Tue, 11 Apr 2006
CBC News

Some of the 70,400 Canadians expected to die from cancer this year could survive if screening programs were expanded and improved, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 153,100 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Canada in 2006, and more than half that number of people will die.

It says the numbers would be lower if there were more screening programs for cervical, breast and colorectal cancer.

For colorectal cancer, screening can help prevent malignancies from developing. Pre-cancerous polyps can be detected during a simple fecal occult blood test and snipped off during a colonoscopy. The test is recommended every two years for those over 50.

An estimated 20,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and 8,500 will die from it.

“If they had [the test] every two years, we could reduce the death rates from colorectal cancer by 17 per cent and that’s based on strong scientific evidence,” said Heather Logan, the cancer society’s director of cancer control policy.
Full story at CBC News