Effectiveness of Colon Cancer Screening Methods Differs between Genders

Colonoscopy Best for Women

Colonoscopy is the most effective method of detecting advanced pre-cancerous polyps in women, according to a new multi-center study directed by Philip Schoenfeld, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine in the Medical School.

Philip Schoenfeld Photo: D.C. Goings

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May, found that advanced pre-cancerous polyps tended to grow, in men, in the lower portion of the colon, while women’s polyps developed deeper in the colon — beyond the reach of a flexible sigmoidoscopy exam. Previous colon cancer screening studies, which focused primarily on men, found that flexible sigmoidoscopy and occult blood testing can detect more than 70 percent of men with advanced pre-cancerous polyps. But the new study of 1,483 women showed that these two screening tests would identify just 35 percent of women with the same type of polyps.

“With heart attacks and other diseases, we know that men and women develop symptoms differently and require different approaches,” Schoenfeld says. “Colon cancer screening should be no exception.”

—KH

For an expanded version of the story:
www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2005/concern.htm

For patient information on colorectal cancer:
www.cancer.med.umich.edu/learn/coloninfo.htm