Re-Educating Residents About Non-Invasive Colorectal Cancer Screening: An Approach to Improving Colon Cancer Screening Compliance

Abstract

BackgroundColorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death; therefore early detection by screening is beneficial. Residents at a clinic in NJ, USA were not offering other forms of colon cancer screening when patients refused colonoscopy, which lead to the creation of the quality improvement project.MethodsResidents practicing at the clinic were given an anonymous survey determining which method of colon cancer screening they used and which alternative method they offered when patients refused the original method. The residents were educated about all methods of colon cancer screening and the residents were resurveyed.ResultsA total of 64% of residents offered less invasive testing when colonoscopy was refused. Six months after education, 95% of residents offered less invasive testing when colonoscopy was refused.ConclusionsEarly detection and removal of polyps by colonoscopy reduce the risk of cancer development. Colonoscopy is the gold standard for colon cancer screening; however other less invasive modalities are approved. This quality improvement project lead to offering the fecal immunochemical test or fecal occult blood test once patients refused colonoscopy at the clinic, increasing the number of patients receiving colorectal cancer screening, and thus providing better medical care.

Predict Colon Cancer by Pairing Plasma miRNAs: Establishment of a Normalizer-Free, Cross-Platform Model

“…Plasma microRNAs (miRNAs), representing an emerging direction of liquid biopsy, are bringing new insights to early detection of CC. Many efforts have been made to evaluate plasma miRNAs to predict CC ( 5 , 6 ). Among the main existing miRNA detection methods, omics tools such as miRNA-sequencing and miRNA chip are costly and not suitable for large-scale population cancer screening.…”