{"id":16588,"date":"2025-12-21T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/shared-decision-making-for-colorectal-cancer-screening-tests\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T19:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:57:10","slug":"shared-decision-making-for-colorectal-cancer-screening-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/?p=16588","title":{"rendered":"Shared decision making for colorectal cancer screening tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> Most of the major cancer types have a single recommended screening test. For breast cancer, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2021\/0101\/p33.html#does-screening-mammography-reduce-breast-cancerrelated-mortality\">mammography<\/a>. For cervical cancer, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2019\/0215\/od1.html\">cytology and\/or human papillomavirus testing<\/a>. For lung cancer, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2023\/0500\/cochrane-lung-cancer-related-mortality-ct-screening.html\">low-dose computed tomography<\/a> (CT). Colorectal cancer is unique in that physicians and patients have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2025\/0900\/colorectal-cancer-screening.html\">a menu of acceptable screening options<\/a>, ranging from various stool-based tests to CT colonography, colonoscopy, and most recently, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2023\/0600\/diagnostic-tests-guardant-health-shield-colon-cancer.html\">a blood test<\/a> for circulating tumor DNA. <\/p>\n<p>Guidelines recommend shared decision making with average-risk adults aged 45 to 75 years to select a colorectal cancer screening strategy that aligns with patients\u2019 preferences and values. A recent <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jabfm.org\/content\/38\/4\/635\">scoping review<\/a> of 28 studies in the United States and Canada explored factors that play important roles in these conversations. Researchers identified 4 domains that influence patients\u2019 decision making: test attributes (accuracy, cost, convenience, and complications); recommendations from their personal physician; fear, discomfort and embarrassment for some regarding colonoscopy and stool tests; and external factors (culture, family input, socioeconomic status, and transportation access). <\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org\/uspstf\/recommendation\/colorectal-cancer-screening\">assigned a \u201cC\u201d grade<\/a> (offer selectively, individualized decision) to colorectal cancer screening in adults aged 76 to 85 years due to a small net benefit of screening in this age group. A <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/fullarticle\/2822774\">cluster randomized trial<\/a> in older adults evaluated the effect of physician training in shared decision-making on receipt of patient-preferred colorectal cancer screening (which could include no testing) and on overall screening rates. At 12 months, about half of patients in each group had received their preferred approach, with no significant difference between the groups in test uptake. <\/p>\n<p>A pitfall for clinicians is limiting patients\u2019 test options to colonoscopy due to a belief that it is the \u201cgold standard\u201d test, even though <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2023\/0600\/fpin-ci-fecal-immunochemical-testing.html\">no data have demonstrated clear superiority over fecal immunochemical tests<\/a>. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2025\/0900\/editorials-noninvasive-colorectal-cancer-screening.html\">An editorial<\/a> in the September 2025 issue of <i>American Family Physician<\/i> discussed optimizing the role of noninvasive colorectal cancer screening tests, and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2025\/1000\/editorials-colonoscopies.html\">an editorial<\/a> in the October 2025 issue reflected on downsides of colonoscopy as a primary screening strategy. For patients who choose to undergo colonoscopy, adherence to evidence-based surveillance guidelines is critical to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/issues\/2025\/1000\/lown-right-care-colorectal-cancer-screening.html\">preventing harms associated with repeating colonoscopy at inappropriately short intervals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>**<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This post first appeared on the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aafp.org\/pubs\/afp\/afp-community-blog.html\"><i>AFP<\/i> Community Blog<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/commonsensemd.blogspot.com\/2025\/12\/shared-decision-making-for-colorectal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read full article at source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of the major cancer types have a single recommended screening test. For breast cancer, mammography. For cervical cancer, cytology and\/or human papillomavirus testing. For lung cancer, low-dose computed tomography (CT). Colorectal cancer is unique in that physicians and patients have a menu of acceptable screening options, ranging from various stool-based tests to CT colonography, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1747],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness-lifestyle"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickbydoc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}