More cancer screening could reduce deaths: report

Some of the 70,400 Canadians expected to die from cancer this year could survive if screening programs were expanded and improved, according to a new report released Tuesday.

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 153,100 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Canada in 2006, and more than half that number of people will die.

• INDEPTH: Cancer screening

It says the numbers would be lower if there were more screening programs for cervical, breast and colorectal cancer.

For colorectal cancer, screening can help prevent malignancies from developing. Pre-cancerous polyps can be detected during a simple fecal occult blood test and snipped off during a colonoscopy.

The test is recommended every two years for those over 50.

An estimated 20,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and 8,500 will die from it.

"If they had [the test] every two years, we could reduce the death rates from colorectal cancer by 17 per cent and that's based on strong scientific evidence," said Heather Logan, the cancer society's director of cancer control policy.

Halifax resident Lynne Fitzgerald, 59, has terminal colorectal cancer that's spread to her liver. She didn't realize the need for screening until it was too late.

"As I had no symptoms whatsoever, why would I even imagine getting screened for colon cancer?"

Cancer in Canada

38 per cent of Canadian women and 44 per cent of men will develop cancer during their lifetime. Approximately one of every four Canadians will die from cancer. Source: The Canadian Cancer Society

A national expert committee suggested mass colorectal cancer screening four years ago, but provincial governments have not followed through on the recommendation, saying it would cost too much.

Dr. Malcolm Moore, an oncologist at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, said that argument is hard to understand, given it costs tens of thousands of dollars to pay for drugs for colorectal cancer patients.

"The number of Canadians who had advanced colon cancer and require all these new treatments would drop considerably," he said.

"If you are looking at the overall economic picture, I think it would be fair to say that investing more money in screening is probably going to be actually cost-effective and cost-saving in the long run."

More mammograms

The report also recommends improving existing screening programs for breast cancer.

About 61 per cent of Canadian women reported having a screening mammogram as recommended, a figure Logan calls too low.

The cancer society recommends that women between the ages of 50 and 69 have a screening mammogram and a clinical breast exam every two years.

For cervical cancer, the Pap test has reduced death rates by 60 per cent since 1977. Further reductions in incidence and death might be possible if the screening programs were better organized, Logan said.