Screening for colorectal cancer will help save lives in the Sun Country Health Region as the early detection program will now be available to men and women between the ages of 50 and 74.
"We are committed to ensuring that Saskatchewan residents have the very best healthcare available," Health Minister Dustin Duncan said. "By expanding the Screening Program for Colorectal Cancer to Sun Country we are strengthening cancer care in the province by helping detect cancer earlier."
The Ministry of Health has provided $190,000 annually to plan and expand the program to the region. It is estimated that the entire screening program will cost approximately $3.5 million annually once it is available province wide.
"We have already seen the tremendous results of this program," Saskatchewan Cancer Agency CEO Scott Livingstone said. "Today more than 196 people don't have cancer because they took the simple test and had pre-cancerous polyps removed during a colonoscopy and that tells me that the program is doing exactly what it was intended to do-save lives by detecting cancer in its early stages."
The Agency will use an advanced fecal immunochemical test (FIT) to screen participants. This test will be mailed to participants to complete in the privacy of their home. The FIT can detect blood in the stool that is not visible to the naked eye.
"Using a simple test we will be able to reduce the number of people who will need invasive cancer treatment and make a difference in the lives of patients and families in the region," Sun Country Health Region Interim CEO Marga Cugnet said.
As of July 2012, approximately 82,000 people have been invited to participate in the screening program in Five Hills, Kelsey Trail, Regina Qu'Appelle, Prairie North, Cypress and Heartland and the northern regions of Athabasca, Keewatin Yatthé and Mamawetan Churchill River. The program will be available province-wide by 2013.
Colorectal cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. In 2011, approximately 690 people in Saskatchewan were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and an estimated 270 died from the disease.
