Organized screening of colorectal carcinoma in Serbia

A presentation of the book, Organized Screening of Colorectal Carcinoma in Serbia, written by Zoran Krivokapić, Dušica Banković Lazarević, Goran Barišić, Biljana Mijović and Verica Jovanović, was held in the SASA Grand Hall on Wednesday, May 30. Academician Vladimir S. Kostić, SASA President, Academician Dragan Micić, SASA Corresponding Member Zoran Krivokapić, and Prof. Radan Džodić, PhD, spoke on the occasion.

It was stated that malignancy is becoming an increasingly great public and healthcare problem, affecting society at large throughout the world. It is forecast that by 2030 the number of people with cancer will reach 26.4 million and that 11 million people will die. Carcinoma of the colon is by all means a vicious disease. Every year, more than a million people are diagnosed with it and over half a million people die of it. For this reason, colon cancer is the third most common cancer and fourth most common cancer death. The disease mostly occurs in elderly people and the percentage of affected people increases with age.

“All these facts have prompted the global community to get actively involved in drafting a strategy for fighting this lethal disease. The World Health Organization has recommended that national health organizations promote primary and secondary prevention in their respective countries. Secondary prevention, or screening, i.e. detection of the disease in its asymptomatic phase, is possible owing to organized colonoscopy. However, screening in most European countries, including Serbia, involves immunochemical tests for the detection of fecal occult blood. The tests can detect hidden blood, which is asymptomatic and may have been caused by a polyp or tumor. Positive tests warrant colonoscopy, during which any polyps may be removed or carcinoma diagnosed and eventually removed by a surgical procedure,” reads the text accompanying the event.