Researchers have created a new tool called CRC-PRO, which allows physicians to quickly and accurately predict an individual's risk of colorectal cancer.
CRC-PRO, or Colorectal Cancer Predicted Risk Online, is designed to help both patients and physicians determine when screening for colorectal cancer is appropriate.
Current guidelines recommend patients are screened at the age of 50. However, with this new tool, physicians will be better able to identify who is truly at risk and when screenings for patients are necessary.
To develop the calculator, the researchers - led by Brian Wells, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences in Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute - analyzed data on over 180,000 patients from a longitudinal study conducted at the University of Hawaii.
Patients were followed for up to 11.5 years to determine which factors were highly associated with the development of colorectal cancer.
The study has been published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.