Study: No Upper Age When Colorectal Cancer Screening Becomes Unnecessary

There is no upper age limit at which doctors can arbitrarily decide it is no longer necessary to screen patients for colorectal cancer, according to Cleveland Clinic researchers.

In a study of 915 patients reporting no symptoms who underwent screening colonoscopies, the researchers sought to establish whether the prevalence of polyps detected by colonoscopy diminished with advancing age, thus possibly warranting no further colonoscopic screening.

They reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology that they found abnormal cell growth in the colon "peaked in the seventh decade," and said "numerous adenomas (non-cancerous growths), advanced adenomas (that are more likely to turn cancerous), and invasive cancers increased with age."

"There is no decline in [discovery] of advanced [abnormal cell growth] to justify stopping screening colonoscopy in the elderly," the researchers concluded.

Other sources: American Journal of Gastroenterology