Colorectal Cancer Screening Project
Colorectal Cancer Screening
When patients are recruited for screening from a clinic site, they undergo fecal occult blood testing and are scheduled for screening sigmoidoscopies. Any individual who has either a positive test for fecal occult blood test, or a strong family history for colorectal cancer, a history of adenomatous polyps or a strong clinical picture for colorectal cancer will under colonoscopy by a gastroenterologist at Texas Tech University HSC.
All participants that are negative for colorectal cancer will be advised of the importance of continued surveillance (annual fecal occult blood tests and flexible sigmoidoscopy every 3-5 years). Patients identified with colorectal cancer are immediately referred to the Texas Tech University HSC Surgical and/or Oncology Staff for rapid treatment. It is our hope that the majority of treatment activities undergone by the project be curative and not palliative.