The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has published an update to the report for colorectal cancer screening in persons with familial risk in May of 2018

On the 23rd of May of 2018, the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has published an updated [S17-01] version of the report [S11-01] “Colorectal cancer screening in persons with familial risk”, which was commissioned to IQWiG by the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) in October of 2017 to provide an answer, whether  people under 55 years of age with a family history of colorectal cancer benefit from a screening test.

The current search found two studies investigating whether colorectal cancer and advanced adenoma are less common in people with a family history of colorectal cancer if certain screening procedures are used:

• The FACTS study investigated whether it makes a difference if colonoscopy is repeated after three years or only after six years (surveillance interval)
• The COLONFAM study compared colonoscopy with immunological faecal occult blood testing

Due to a lack of conclusive results, these studies could not answer the study questions. Like the 2013 final report, the current rapid report therefore concluded that the benefit of screening for under 55-year-olds with a family history of colorectal cancer is unclear. In view of this data situation, it must be carefully considered whether and how a risk-adapted screening strategy should be introduced.

See full details in German here.

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