[Colorectal cancer screening programme in France, role of the National Institute of Cancer].
With almost 37,500 new cases per year and 17,000 deaths, colorectal cancer represents a major public health problem in France. A new stage in the fight against this cancer should be marked in 2009 with the widespread implementation of the colorectal cancer screening programme over the whole of the French territory. This population-based screening programme targets an eligible population of 16 million persons. The evaluation of the first 23 pilot districts allowed a standardization of the main quality and efficacy indicators. The implementation of the colorectal cancer screening programme relies on monitoring centres, usually one per district, set up for the national breast cancer screening programme. The programme refers to quality assurance guidelines and includes explicit policy with specified age categories, method, and interval for screening. A national screening training programme for newly districts joining the programme was implemented. A small number of laboratories have been selected for the programme on quality criteria. The French National Cancer Institute contributes to organization, information, guidelines, and research. The replacement of the guaiac test used in the French programme by an immunochemical test should be effective in the next few years.
Viguier
Jérôme
J
Département dépistage, Institut national du cancer (INCa), 52, avenue André Morizet, 92513 Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex, France. jviguier@institutcancer.fr.
Nathan
Martine Le Quellec
Mle Q
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003113:Colonoscopy; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006288:Health Planning Organizations / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012812:Sigmoidoscopy