The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued a new recommendation that routine colorectal cancer screenings can eventually be stopped in people over the age of 75 if they have a consistent history of negative screening results. The new USPSTF colorectal cancer screening recommendations were published October 6, 2008 in the Online First issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine .

The USPSTF also recommends that colorectal cancer screening can be stopped in all adults over the age of 85 years. For adults aged 50 to 75 years, the new recommends call for screening every 5 years with fecal occult blood testing (or, testing for blood in the stool) or sigmoidoscopy, visual examination of the sigmoid portion of the colon, and screening every 10 years with a full colonoscopy.

On the topic of virtual colonoscopy, the USPSTF concluded that there was not enough evidence to assess the relative benefits and harms of this mode of screening. The last USPSTF recommendations were issued in 2002. For a complete summary of the USPSTF recommendations for patients, click here .

Source

Ann Intern Med. Published online October 6, 2008.