HPA warns against passing up follow-up colonoscopyBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterFailure to undergo a follow-up colonoscopy after testing positive in a colorectal cancer screening can increase the risk of death from colorectal cancer by 64 percent, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. About 16,000 people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2017, it said. The number of people who underwent a colonoscopy for diagnosis following a positive fecal occult blood test also fell by about 10 percent, as an estimated 10,000 people who tested positive did not undergo a colonoscopy, HPA data showed. Colorectal cancer usually does not show symptoms in its early stages, so regularly undergoing colorectal cancer screening is important for detecting early signs, Wu said. Among the about 500 possible colorectal cancer cases, about half might have only stage 0 or 1 colorectal cancer, which is highly curable and has a five-year survival rate of up to 95 percent, he said.

Source: Taipei Times July 01, 2020 15:56 UTC