Improving early detection of colorectal cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand; how do the direct access criteria perform?

Aim: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy in New Zealand, and there is increasing pressure on investigative resources for diagnosis. The national direct access referral guidelines from the Ministry of Health (MoH) guide who should be referred for investigation, but their performance in detecting CRC and other significant diseases has not been reported previously. This paper describes the yield, by direct access criterion, of all referrals through the direct access pathway to the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) during 2018.

Perceived risks and benefits of surveillance colonoscopy in people undergoing surveillance for family history of colorectal cancer.

Aim: To determine perceived risks and benefits of colonoscopy surveillance among patients undergoing surveillance colonoscopy due to family history of colorectal cancer (CRC).

Method: We conducted a standardised phone interview of 250 randomly selected people who had undergone surveillance colonoscopy at Dunedin Hospital. We assessed perceptions of colonoscopy effectiveness, complication rates, and CRC risk.