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Colorectal screening - Management
Basis for recommendation
Criteria for a screening programme
- The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme meets the UK National Screening Committee criteria for a viable, effective, and appropriate screening programme based on [UK National Screening Committee, 2009]:
- Evidence from three randomized controlled trials and a meta-analysis of the data from these trials that found screening reduces bowel cancer mortality by approximately 16% [Mandel et al, 1993; Hardcastle et al, 1996; Kronborg et al, 1996; Hewitson et al, 2007].
- Evidence from one randomized controlled trial that found that screening reduces the incidence of bowel cancer in a screened population [Mandel et al, 2000]. This was presumed to occur because removal of benign polyps, identified by colonoscopy after an abnormal screening test, prevented their development into malignant lesions.
- Evidence from an evaluation of the pilot of the Bowel Cancer Programme commissioned by the Department of Health that found a screening programme can be effectively implemented within the NHS [Weller et al, 2003; Weller et al, 2006].
Bowel cancer mortality
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