Colorectal cancer screening program needed: survivors

VANCOUVER - Vancouver colorectal cancer survivors Ruth Tremblay and Doug Shirlaw joined NDP health critic Adrian Dix on Tuesday in calling for a provincial screening program that would reduce deaths by either preventing such cancers or catching them earlier.

Of the 200 types of cancers, only lung cancer kills more B.C. residents.

Dix said the province is lagging behind several other provinces by delaying implementation of a screening program like ones that exist for breast and cervical cancers.

Dix told a news conference he had a sense of deja vu since he made the same plea for a screening program almost exactly three years ago. “And the health minister is still dragging his feet.”

He said the issue is dear to his heart since his mother was diagnosed with colon cancer 12 years ago. “She was diagnosed early so she survived and she is still working,” he said.

Colorectal cancer screening programs, which target those aged 50 to 75, can reduce death rates by up to 83 per cent and incidence by up to 81 per cent, according to a new University of B.C.-Dalhousie University study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. The study also found that such programs are cost-effective since they prevent cancer cases, avoiding treatment costs.

Health Minister Kevin Falcon said the province will know by the end of the year what kind of screening program it will fund, when results of a pilot project involving 9,000 people become available. He stressed that there is nothing preventing people getting tested if they fit the criteria. The government spends almost $30 million for tests and diagnostic exams for those who seek them. An estimated one-third of the eligible population gets such tests. A screening program that includes reminder letters and awareness campaigns would reportedly boost such testing to 70 per cent of those over age 50.

Shirlaw said he had 48 weeks of treatment after he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2006 and now regards himself as “one of the lucky ones” since he is still cancer-free.

Tremblay, also diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2006, is still under treatment since she was diagnosed with two other types of cancer as a result of the disease spreading to other sites.

“Through screening, I could have avoided this. Instead I am at home on disability. Early detection does save lives. And it’s cost effective because instead of spending hundreds of thousands taking care of each ill person you can spend [less] to prevent cancer,” she said. Both patients’ cancers were detected as a result of symptoms, not through screening tests.

pfayerman@vancouversun.com