Patient Knowledge Regarding Colorectal Cancer Risk, Opinion of Screening, and Preferences for a Screening Test.

AIMS: To assess patient knowledge about colorectal cancer incidence and prognosis as well as willingness to undergo screening with various tests (eg, optical colonoscopy, stool-based tests, computed tomographic colonography (CTC)).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was administered to consecutive patients of a general academic-based internal medicine clinic.

RESULTS: Survey response rate was 86.3%. A majority of respondents (55%) reported being aware of general information about colorectal cancer, and 99% indicated a belief that colorectal cancer screening was a good idea. A majority of respondents (73%) were willing to undergo optical colonoscopy, and some were willing to undergo stool-based tests (48%), or CT colonography CTC (40%). A majority reported being more willing to undergo a colorectal cancer screening test if the test did not involve radiation (86%), did not involve insertion of a tube or device into the rectum (78%), did not involve a pre-proceduralpreprocedural bowel cleansing regimen (73%), or did not involve sedation (60%).

CONCLUSION: Improved patient education about the negligible radiation risk associated with CTC or development of a non-invasive imaging test that did not involve a preprocedural bowel cleansing regimen may increase rates of colorectal cancer screening.