Colorectal cancer screening already reached 10,700 Azoreans

The Regional Secretary for Health stated in Angra do Heroísmo that the Organised Colon and Rectal Cancer Screening of the Azores (ROCCRA) has already reached 10,700 Azoreans, adding that the initiative will begin later this year on the islands of Terceira, São Jorge and Graciosa.

Luís Cabral spoke at the opening of the regional meeting of the Portuguese Society of Coloproctology, highlighting the importance of organised screenings for early detection of the disease.

The Azores Oncology Centre (COA) began the ROCCRA initiative in 2014 as a pilot project on the island of Faial, which was subsequently extended to the islands of Pico, Flores, Corvo, Santa Maria and São Miguel.

"Later this year, the colon and rectal cancer screening will begin on the remaining islands, i.e., on Terceira, São Jorge and Graciosa. This means that the organised screening for colorectal cancer reaches all islands of the Azores," said Luís Cabral.

On the islands where the screening is in the final phase of the first round, the participation rate stood at 46.7% on Faial, 48% on Pico, 21% on Flores, 17% on Corvo, 40% on Santa Maria and 44% in the municipalities of Nordeste and Povoação, São Miguel Island.

According to the data provided by COA, nearly 69,700 patients were enrolled in the first round of ROCCRA as of September 30. A total of 24,600 patients were invited to take part in the screening and 10,700 consented to the testing, i.e., 43.4%.

"We have processed 8,782 faecal occult blood tests (FOBT), which corresponds to a rate of 35.6%. Of these samples, 93.2% tested negative result while 6.8% tested positive, and 157 cases (1.8%) were inconclusive," said the Regional Secretary for Health.

The data available also indicate that the screening allowed the detection of 28 cancers, representing 3.19% of screened patients; a total of 434 colonoscopies were performed to date.

In his speech, Luís Cabral argued that "prevention is better than cure," emphasising the focus on the "improvement of primary health care and the implementation of screening programmes."