Online Colorectal Cancer Risk Calculator Developed by Researchers

A team of international researchers has developed a new online tool that makes it possible for physicians to predict an individual's risk of colorectal cancer.

Reported in the journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, Cleveland Clinic researchers have developed an online colorectal cancer risk calculator called CRC-PRO that helps physicians to get a quick and accurate estimate of a patient's risk of colorectal cancer.

Developed to assist both patients and physicians, the new user-friendly tool Colorectal Cancer Predicted Risk Online (CRC-PRO) helps in determining the accurate time for screening of colorectal cancer. Also it makes it easy for the physicians to identify those individuals who are truly at risk of suffering from colorectal cancer and also helps in determining when screening is required.

Led by Brian Wells, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences in Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, the calculator was developed after examining data of over 180,000 patients who were part of a longitudinal study held at the University of Hawaii.

The subjects who were a part of this study were followed for nearly 11.5 years to determine the factors that were highly linked with the development of colorectal cancer.

"Creating a risk calculator that includes multiple risk factors offers clinicians a means to more accurately predict risk than the simple age-based cutoffs currently used in clinical practice," said Dr. Wells. "Clinicians could decide to screen high-risk patients earlier than age 50, while delaying or foregoing screening in low-risk individuals."

 The team hopes that this new online tool may help in enhancing the efficiency of colorectal cancer screening and believes that the tool may lower the healthcare costs by eliminating unnecessary testing. The risk of cancer differs in different racial group and this study mostly comprised of Caucasians.

"The development of risk prediction calculators like the CRC-PRO is vital for improving medical decision-making," said Michael Kattan, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences in Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute. "Tools like this represent another step toward personalized medicine that will ultimately improve efficiency, outcomes and patient care."