Screening of colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a cancer in a disappointing location. However, its location clearly has an advantage that could theoretically permit efficient secondary prevention: the preceding of the cancer by a benign lesion, ie, the adenoma. Complete colonoscopy and its substitute, the double-contrast barium enema, and their specific limitations, must be reserved for high-risk patients: hereditary cancers and ulcerative colitis. For all the others, ie, adults of 45 years of age and with standard risks, the proposal is either to select the patients to be colonoscoped through occult blood testing of the stools or to perform a fiber sigmoidoscopy or a combination of both. Although imperfect, both methods allow the detection of polyps and cancers at a presymptomatic stage, when they are either benign or malignant, but localized and with a better prognosis. However, the absolute proof of the benefits of this strategy of screening would be the demonstration by controlled studies of a prolonged survival rate or a decrease in morbidity. Until now, this proof is not fully available.