A prospective cost-effectiveness study of alternative work-up strategies in colorectal cancer screening.

Population screening for colorectal cancer has not yet been introduced in Australia, although there is considerable pressure to do so. A significant cost in these programs is the follow-up or confirmatory diagnostic testing for individuals who screened positive and there are many suggested or available strategies with widely differing costs and outcomes. This study is a prospective analysis of diagnostic work-up strategies and two dominant protocols are identified among the twenty-two candidates. The study also discusses extensions to the analysis.