Opinion: Balancing hope and reality: The promise and peril of blood-based colorectal cancer screening
As a gastroenterologist and cancer researcher, my mission is to help my patients live longer, healthier, and cancer-free lives. A rise in the number of younger Americans diagnosed with colorectal cancer worries me — early-age onset colorectal cancer is expected to surge by more than 140% by 2030. But because colorectal cancer is preventable with early screening and detection, it’s possible to reduce the number of Americans diagnosed with this disease in the prime of their lives.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a pivotal paper that found a blood test can detect the early stages of colorectal cancer, which is one of a handful of cancers that is increasing every year in Americans younger than age 50.
