OBJECTIVE To determine factors influencing the low return rate observed in a program of flexible sigmoidoscopy for average risk screening for colorectal carcinoma. METHODS Flexible sigmoidoscopy-based screening of average risk 55-64 yr olds has been ongoing since 1995. Greater than 3400 primary and 1000 follow up screening examinations have been performed. Participants with a primary screen i...

Although the double contrast barium enema is the standard radiological examination of the colon, it is not universally available to patients referred by their general practitioners. A retrospective survey of all double contrast barium enemas carried out over a two year period in one health district was undertaken to determine the diagnostic yield of pathological findings for patients referred b...

Twenty years ago I stumbled upon an idea that changed my life. In a study of preventive medicine behaviors by family physicians, the introduction of a new procedural technology (flexible gastrointestinal endoscopy) markedly improved the longstanding noncompliance of physicians and patients in the prevention of colorectal cancer.1,2 The fiberoptic bundles of short colonoscopy and flexible sigmoi...

BACKGROUND The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force requested a decision analysis to inform their update of recommendations for colorectal cancer screening. OBJECTIVE To assess life-years gained and colonoscopy requirements for colorectal cancer screening strategies and identify a set of recommendable screening strategies. DESIGN Decision analysis using 2 colorectal cancer microsimulation mo...

BACKGROUND Although many patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are now living well beyond 50 years of age, there are no data available on colorectal cancer screening in this population. The aim of this study was to determine the utility of screening flexible sigmoidoscopy in patients with HIV. METHODS Consecutive patients at average risk for colorectal cancer who were ref...

Screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) using sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy is now common in many developed countries. This concise, evidence-based review looks at the impact of sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy screening on CRC incidence, CRC mortality and overall mortality. Data from controlled retrospective and prospective (observational or randomized) studies have generally shown that sigmoidoscopy...

Assessment of accuracy of self-reported reason for colorectal cancer testing has been limited. We examined the accuracy and correlates of self-reported reason (screening or diagnosis) for having a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy. Patients who had received at least one sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy within the past 5 years were recruited from a large multispecialty clinic in Houston, TX, between 2005...

susceptibility by reductive metabolism gene variants. Sigmoidoscopy may reduce the incidence and mortality of colo-rectal cancer (CRC) in two ways. The first is by direct detection of distal (left-sided) early-stage CRC and removal of precancer-ous adenomatous polyps. The second takes advantage of the association between distal neoplastic findings and advanced neoplasia in the proximal colon. S...