Colorectal Cancer Screening: Understanding the Updated Guidelines

Cancer, in all its many forms, is the second leading cause of death in the United States. So if you get the opportunity to screen for cancer, this is one opportunity you shouldn’t miss.

Since March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, our team of medical experts at the gastroenterology department here at LaSante Health Center wants to outline the latest screening recommendations for this type of cancer, which will be diagnosed in more than 150,000 Americans this year.

When to start screening for colorectal cancer

The biggest update in the screening guidelines for colorectal cancer is moving the starting age from 50 down to 45.

Thanks to colorectal screening efforts over the past few decades, the incidence of this cancer has dropped considerably since the mid-1980s. 

That said, a worrisome trend has emerged: The American Cancer Society reports that rates of colorectal cancer in people under the age of 50 increased by 2.4% per year from 2012 to 2021.

As a result of this uptick, we’re now recommending that you start screening for colorectal cancer at the age of 45.

When your risks for colorectal cancer are higher

There are certain factors that can place you at higher risk for colorectal cancer, which makes screening even more important. These factors include:

• Obesity
• A low-fiber diet
• Age
• A history of colon polyps
• Gastrointestinal disease, namely inflammatory bowel disease
• Certain gene mutations
• A family history of colorectal cancer 

This last factor is significant: 1 in 3 people who are diagnosed with colorectal cancer has a family history of the disease.

Our primary care providers and gastroenterology experts are happy to sit down with you to figure out your risk factors for colorectal cancer. If we do find that you’re at higher risk, we may recommend a more frequent screening schedule.

Screening for colorectal cancer — you have options

When it comes to how we screen for colorectal cancer, you do have options. After we sit down with you to determine your risks for the disease, we can figure out how to best move forward. There are two ways in which we screen for colorectal cancer:

• Colonoscopy 
• Stool-based testing

The advantages of a colonoscopy is that it gives us a look at the lining of your colon, and we can also remove any suspicious growths during this procedure. If we find that everything looks good, we don’t need to screen again for 10 years. If we find something we need to stay on top of, we will likely recommend more frequent screening.

With the stool-based tests, we screen every three years. If we find something we need to investigate further in these tests, we typically recommend a colonoscopy.

No matter how you approach your colorectal cancer screening, the priority is to take part in this invaluable and potentially lifesaving process.

To figure out your next steps for colorectal cancer screening, we invite you to book an appointment online or call us at our Brooklyn, New York, office at 718-246-5700.  We serve the Flatbush and East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Little Haiti, Little Caribbean, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens communities.