Spain pushes for higher colonoscopy testing rates:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Prompter access to testing for colorectal cancer and higher survival rates are the ultimate aim of a Spanish public awareness booklet, published to mark the culmination of European colorectal cancer month. Among the topics featured in the Roche-sponsored guide are the early signs of disease and the importance of a prompt assessment using colonoscopy. Spain records annually some 22,000 new cases, of which 20% are at a metastatic stage, according to Europacolon Espana, the country's leading awareness and lobby group in this area. Greater public awareness should have a significant impact, it believes, on reducing this proportion of late diagnoses. Three-quarters of all cases appear in the 60-80 year age group and 90% of cases are aged over 50 (see Clinica No 1300, page 8).