researchers develop online screening tool to determine risk for colorectal cancer

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A team of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute have developed a risk calculator for colorectal cancer, helping patients and physicians make better, more personalized decisions on whether or not to screen for the disease.

The tool, known as CRC-PRO, or Colorectal Cancer Predicted Risk Online, uses multiple factors to determine an individual person’s risk of developing cancer, instead of simply basing risk on general factors like age and weight. There are separate calculators for men and women.

“It’s less about the predictors and more about the way we put them together,” says Michael Kattan, one of the researchers on the team and chair of the Clinic’s department of Quantitative Health Sciences. “You take into account much more information.”

Kattan says the trade-off is that the risk is computed by an online calculator, so it’s less visual than running through a series of more generic questions.

Researchers, led by the Clinic’s Brian Wells, analyzed data on over 180,000 patients from a study conducted at the University of Hawaii. Patients were followed to determine which factors were highly associated with the development of colorectal cancer.

Kattan first saw the need for a more personalized formula more than 20 years ago when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. “We didn’t catch it early, I was in stage 4, with stage 5 being death,” he recalls. “You’re told you’re not really applicable to that stage, but how do you add and subtract factors? I want estimates tailored to me. Why isn’t there a website where I can enter stuff about myself? I can do that everywhere else.”

CRC-PRO is one of a series of risk prediction calculators Kattan and his team are rolling out at the Clinic, including tools for calculating the risk of heart disease and breast, prostate and thyroid cancers. Patients can use the tools online. The calculators will eventually be added to patients’ electronic health records.


Source: Michael Kattan
Writer: Karin Connelly

Karin Connelly Rice
Karin Connelly Rice

About the Author: Karin Connelly Rice

Karin Connelly Rice enjoys telling people's stories, whether it's a promising startup or a life's passion. Over the past 20 years she has reported on the local business community for publications such as Inside Business and Cleveland Magazine. She was editor of the Rocky River/Lakewood edition of In the Neighborhood and was a reporter and photographer for the Amherst News-Times. At Fresh Water she enjoys telling the stories of Clevelanders who are shaping and embracing the business and research climate in Cleveland.