Every year over a thousand people in British Columbia die of colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer in the province and across the country. Today, the provincial government announced public funding for a new and improved province-wide testing program that will launch in April of next year.
The new fecal immunochemical test or FIT will be easier for patients to complete at home and will require no changes in medication or diet. It also yields fewer false results.
The test will aid in the early detection and treatment of colorectal cancer, which has a 90% survival rate when caught early.
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This type of cancer has absolutely no symptoms in its earliest stages, complicating detection.
“So screening programs and early detection can really help make a difference,” said Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid. “Screening does save lives.”
Under the new system, patients between the ages of 50 and 74 without symptoms will be referred for a screening test once every two years by their family physicians.
Patients with existing family history of colorectal cancer will be referred to their regional heath authority for a screening colonoscopy.
Reminders will be sent to both patients and physicians to let them know when re-screening is needed.
There will also be a centralized data center where results will be kept and monitored.
MacDiarmid could not say how much the new screening program would cost, but said the province has made an unusual step of investing in the program without a cost estimate to create public awareness about screening.
“It will probably be slow to begin with. We need to get the word out there,” said MacDiarmid. “We will be able to give a cost analysis retrospectively, but at this point it is not clear what it is going to be.”
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