Colorectal cancer affecting younger people; genetic screening could help identify them earlier! Hereditary Cancer
2 min read
Colorectal cancer is a disease mostly associated with older age; after all, the standard advice has been to start getting tested through a colonoscopy at age 50. But there is an increasing incidence of this cancer in younger people —it went up 51% among people under 55 between 1994 and 2014. That’s why the American Cancer Society lowered the age when it recommends colorectal cancer screening from 50 to 45. That screening could be a colonoscopy or it could be a less invasive stool test (Fecal immunochemical test, FIT). Genetic screening for inherited risk of colorectal cancer would also help identify at-risk people earlier, and this is a type of cancer that has high rates of success when treated early. Genetic testing may be appropriate if you have multiple family members with certain gastrointestinal cancers or cancer syndromes. The concern is greatest if you have close relatives such as parents or siblings with these diseases, but it can also be a worry if you have three or more distant relative who had it on
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the same side of the family.
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