Identifying and screening patients at high risk of colorectal cancer in general practice.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the feasibility and acceptability of selecting patients at risk of colorectal cancer by taking family histories by means of a postal questionnaire. To determine if this information could be translated into simple risk categories to guide subsequent management.

SETTING

Patients aged between 30 and 69 years inclusive, registered with a mixed suburban and rural training general practice in south west England.

METHOD

A postal questionnaire survey seeking demographic information and family history of colorectal cancer was sent to all eligible patients. Personal risk of colorectal cancer was stratified according to predetermined criteria. Risk assessment was modified if necessary after the general practitioner conferred with a geneticist. Patients were subsequently offered colonoscopy (high risk) or faecal occult blood testing (intermediate risk).

RESULTS

Response to the questionnaire was 84.7%. 250 patients had a family history of colorectal cancer, of whom 52 were assigned to the high risk group, 104 to the intermediate group, and 94 to the low risk group. The geneticist reassigned five intermediate risk patients to the high risk group. Of 27 patients who had a colonoscopy, two were found to have an adenocarcinoma and a further two adenomatous polyps. In the group given faecal occult blood testing, two patients presented with colorectal cancer before being screened.

CONCLUSIONS

A postal questionnaire is feasible and acceptable for the collection of information about a family history of colorectal cancer from patients in general practice. The personal risk of developing the disease according to standard criteria can be estimated and then managed by a simple protocol.