Best Practice & Research: Clinical Gastroenterology – The dimensions of the CRC problem

Karsa L. v., Lignini T. A., Patnick J., Lambert R., Sauvaget C.
The dimensions of the CRC problem.
Best Practice & Research: Clinical Gastroenterology, Volume 24, Issue 4, Pages 381-396 (August 2010). doi:10.1016/j.bpg.2010.06.004

Currently, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the fourth most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with 1.2 million estimated cases and 608 000 estimated deaths in 2008. Colorectal cancer is a significant health problem, the importance of which will increase substantially in the coming years, both in more, as well as in less developed regions of the world. The present paper describes the dimensions of the problem from an epidemiologic viewpoint as well as from the perspective of policy makers and professionals seeking to control the disease.

Concerted efforts to control colorectal cancer are therefore of great importance worldwide. They will require allocation of additional resources and should be based on an appropriate balance between prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

As recommended by the World Health Organization, these efforts should not be conducted in isolation, but integrated into an overall framework of comprehensive cancer control.
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