Patients with stages I-III screen-detected colorectal cancer (CRC) have better disease-free survival rates than those with non-screen-detected CRC, an effect that was independent of patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics.

"Apart from CRC stage, mode of detection could be used to assess an individual's risk for recurrence and survival, which may contribute to a more personalized treatment," the authors wrote.

The study, led by Sanne J.K.F. Pluimers, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Erasmus University Medical Center/Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was published online in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

The follow-up time was relatively short, restricting the ability to evaluate the long-term effects of screening on CRC recurrence. This study focused on recurrence solely within the FIT-based screening program, and the results were not generalizable to other screening methods. Due to Dutch privacy law, data on CRC-specific causes of death were unavailable, which may have affected the specificity of survival outcomes.

There was no funding source for this study. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.