Perspectives of Mass Colorectal Cancer Screening and Early Clinical Diagnosis

Abstract

With the aging and growth of world population and high prevalence of unhealthy behaviors and lifestyles, colorectal cancer (CRC) has become a big burden on global health. CRC is associated with multiple risk factors and its risk factors vary by population which makes intervention very difficult in the general population. Mass CRC screening is effective in reducing CRC mortality and incidence among asymptomatic individuals in the community although the magnitude of effectiveness is small due to many barriers. Based on current literature evidence and the fact of economic crisis, the editorial depicted the perspectives of mass CRC screening and early clinical diagnosis. A currently cost-effective and feasible Risk-Stratification-Based mass CRC screening protocol for CRC early detection and prevention is recommended and emphasized especially benefiting medically and economically underserved populations/areas. Existing issues for future research including urgent needs of serum biomarker and more efficient screening protocol for mass CRC screening are discussed.