Designing clinical and genetic guidelines of colorectal cancer screening as an effective roadmap for risk management.

AIM: We aimed to present clinical and genetic guidelines of colorectal cancer screening for risk assessment of populations at risk.

BACKGROUND: National guidelines can be used as a guide for choosing the method of screening for each individual. These guidelines facilitate decision making and support the delivery of cancer screening service.

METHODS: In the first step, a comparative study was performed by using secondary data extracted from the literature review. Three countries (Canada, Australia and United States) were selected from 25 countries that are member in the International Cancer Screening Network (ICSN). The second step of study was qualitative survey. The study was based on the grounded theory approach. Study tool was semi-structured interview. Interviewing involves asking questions and getting answers from participants. 22 expert's perspectives about guidelines of colorectal cancer screening were surveyed.

RESULTS: Screening program of selected countries was compared. Countries were surveyed by number of risk groups and subgroups, criteria for risk assessment, beginning age, recommendations, screening approaches and intervals. Australia and United States have three risk groups and Canada has two risk groups. Four risk groups were defined in the national guideline, including high risk, increased risk, average and low risk group. The high risk group comprises of 8 subgroups, increased risk group comprises of 3 subgroups and average risk group contain 4 subgroups. Approved clinical criteria for hereditary syndromes and the roadmap of genetic and pathologic survey were designed.

CONCLUSIONS: Guidelines and pathways have a vital role in the quality improvement of CRC screening program. National guidelines were refined according to the environmental and genetic criteria of colorectal cancer in Iran. These guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations by risk groups. National pathways as a risk assessment tool can evaluate and improve the processes and outcomes of cancer screening in practice. One of the suggestions for future research is the designing expert system for real-time decision making during a clinical interaction.