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World J Gastroenterol. Sep 7, 2017; 23(33): 6049-6058
Published online Sep 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i33.6049
Colorectal cancer, screening and primary care: A mini literature review
Athanasios Hadjipetrou, Dimitrios Anyfantakis, Christos G Galanakis, Miltiades Kastanakis, Serafim Kastanakis
Athanasios Hadjipetrou, Dimitrios Anyfantakis, Primary Health Care Centre of Kissamos, Chania, 73400 Crete, Greece
Athanasios Hadjipetrou, Dimitrios Anyfantakis, Miltiades Kastanakis, First Department of Surgery, Saint George General Hospital of Chania, 73300 Crete, Greece
Christos G Galanakis, Private Family Practice Unit in Chania, 73133 Crete, Greece
Serafim Kastanakis, Department of Internal Medicine, Saint George General Hospital of Chania, 73300 Crete, Greece
Author contributions: Anyfantakis D and Galanakis CG conceptualized and designed the review; Anyfantakis D carried out the analysis; Hadjipetrou A drafted the manuscript; Kastanakis M and Kastanakis S contributed to the interpretation of the data and critical revisions; all authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript as submitted.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Christos G Galanakis, MD, PhD, Private Family Practice Unit in Chania, 1 Manoli Mantaka, 73133 Crete, Greece. christos@myfamilydoctor.gr
Telephone: +30-2821-055519 Fax: +30-2821-057002
Received: February 4, 2017
Peer-review started: February 8, 2017
First decision: April 21, 2017
Revised: June 19, 2017
Accepted: August 1, 2017
Article in press: August 2, 2017
Published online: September 7, 2017
Processing time: 214 Days and 12.9 Hours
Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common health problem, representing the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and causing a significant burden in terms of morbidity and mortality, with annual deaths estimated at 700000. The western way of life, that is being rapidly adopted in many regions of the world, is a well discussed risk factor for CRC and could be targeted in terms of primary prevention. Furthermore, the relatively slow development of this cancer permits drastic reduction of incidence and mortality through secondary prevention. These facts underlie primary care physicians (PCPs) being assigned a key role in health strategies that enhance prevention and prompt diagnosis. Herein, we review the main topics of CRC in the current literature, in order to better understand its pathogenesis, risk and protective factors, as well as screening techniques. Furthermore, we discuss preventive and screening policies to combat CRC and the crucial role served by PCPs in their successful implementation. Relevant articles were identified through electronic searches of MEDLINE and through manual searches of reference lists.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Prevention; Diagnosis; Screening; Primary care

Core tip: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common health problem, causing a significant burden in terms of morbidity and mortality. However, if detected early, the disease is highly curable. Primary care physicians are therefore in a unique position to enhance prevention and prompt diagnosis. The purpose of this paper was to review the main topics of CRC in the current literature to provide a more comprehensive understanding of its pathogenesis, risk and protective factors, as well as screening techniques.