Screened patients have ‘superior’ bowel cancer outcomes
Resection is less invasive and there are fewer complications, according to data collected by hundreds of surgeons
Australians with colorectal cancer detected under the national FOBT screening program are more likely to have less-invasive surgery and fewer complications than others, a study shows.
Victorian researchers analysed data on more than 15,000 surgeries for colorectal cancer (CRC) collected by 435 surgeons in the Binational Colorectal Cancer Audit.
Outcomes for the 1357 patients diagnosed following screening were compared with those whose cancer was detected in other ways.
The data showed that minimally-invasive surgery was used for 80% of people referred under the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) compared with 66% of those across Australia and New Zealand referred via other pathways.
