Study: More Colorectal Cancers Cannot Be Found by Sigmoidoscopy

Dutch researchers report that a sharp increase over the past two decades in the number of colorectal cancers that cannot be discovered by sigmoidoscopy is a further argument in favor of colonoscopy as the best screening tool for colorectal cancer.

The researchers studied data for an eastern region of the Netherlands for 1981 and 1996, and reported in the journal Diseases of the Colon and Rectum that the incidence of colorectal cancer almost doubled in that area over the 15-year period.

But more significantly, they found that while at the beginning of the period one in four colorectal cancers was a proximal cancer -- located in an area that cannot be reached by sigmoidoscopy -- the number had increased to more than one in three (37 percent) by 1996.

These proximal colorectal cancers can only be discovered by a colonoscopy.

"These findings add to the notion that sigmoidoscopy is not the optimal diagnostic or screening tool for colorectal cancer," the researchers concluded.

Other Sources: Diseases of the Colon and Rectum