• K K F Tsoi, S S M Ng, M C M Leung, and J J Y Sung.
• Institute of Digestive Disease, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China.
• Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. 2008 Aug 1; 28 (3): 353-63.

BackgroundFaecal occult blood testing (FOBT), flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) and colonoscopy are recommended for subjects above 50 years of age for screening for colorectal cancer (CRC).AimTo evaluate the cost-effectiveness of FOBT, FS and colonoscopy on the basis of disease prevalence, compliance rate and cost of screening procedures in Asian countries.MethodsA hypothetical population of 100 000 persons aged 50 undergoes either FOBT annually, FS every 5 years or colonoscopy every 10 years until the age of 80 years. Patients with positive FOBT or polyp in FS are offered colonoscopy. Surveillance colonoscopy is repeated every 3 years. The treatment cost of CRC, including surgery and chemotherapy, was evaluated. A Markov model was used to compare the cost-effectiveness of different screening strategies.ResultsAssuming a compliance rate of 90%, colonoscopy, FS and FOBT can reduce CRC incidence by 54.1%, 37.1% and 29.3% respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) for FOBT (US$6222 per life-year saved) is lower than FS (US$8044 per life-year saved) and colonoscopy (US$7211 per life-year saved). When the compliance rate drops to 50% and 30%, FOBT still has the lowest ICER.ConclusionFOBT is cost-effective compared to FS or colonoscopy for CRC screening in average-risk individuals aged from 50 to 80 years.

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