MONDAY, Dec. 15, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- An index that may help determine a person's risk levels for colorectal cancer and whether a colonoscopy is required is being developed by researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine.
The results of their initial work appear in the Dec. 16 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The researchers reviewed the colonoscopy results of almost 2,000 people over age 50 and identified factors associated with an increased probability of finding the disease in the upper colon, an area that can only be viewed using a colonoscope.
Using this information, they developed a risk index and tested it using data from an additional 1,031 patients in the same age bracket.
Three factors were identified as increasing the chances of finding advanced, pre-malignant growths in the upper colon. They include: older age; being male; and having certain types and sizes of polyps in the lower colon, which can be seen using sigmoidoscopy, which is less costly and invasive than colonoscopy.
"The risk index we have developed may identify low-risk people whose probability of advanced precancerous growths in the upper colon is about one in 250," lead researcher Dr. Thomas F. Imperiale, a gastroenterologist, says in a prepared statement.
"This index is a first step toward identifying people who do not require colonoscopy sigmoidoscopy; however, colonoscopy could be considered later in life, as their risk changes," Imperiale says.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about colonscopy.
