Additional measures against colon cancer: office mailboxes for storing screening samples

The Ministry of Health will establish until the end of the year and in all medical centers Community is a system mailboxes for collecting stool samples for the colorectal cancer early detection program. The goal is to make collection more accessible and flexible and therefore increase participation target population when screening this type of tumor, which timidly exceeds 40 percent, despite the fact that this is the best way to identify a problem that, if not addressed, can develop into an invasive and potentially fatal cancer.

Mailboxes that are accurately identified will be located at entrance to medical centers, in a visible and accessible place, away from heat sources and direct sunlight, as the Director General of the Public Health Authority told Ikalu, Sonia Tamames, who explained that this move will allow the public to come any time the health center is open to give their samples, without the need to make an appointment with a nurse. In his opinion, this could increase participation, by improving accessibility, without a specific day and time of delivery, which will ease the burden of care in primary care nurse consultations.

Currently participating in the program an initial meeting with a nurse is required

from a medical center where it was confirmed if the patient is able to undergo the test and the kit is delivered. Until mailboxes arrive, a second appointment is required for delivery. “We found that for this reason many people end up not delivering samples due to lack of capacity or sometimes due to lack of medical facilities.” “We understand that this makes delivery much easier for people because simply at any time, no matter what it may be, they can walk into their health center during opening hours and drop off a sample in that mailbox and it will be processed without much inconvenience.” insist Tamames.

At the moment, delivery of samples can only be carried out in the city. the medical center to which the patient belongs, since each one sends it to its own analytical and laboratory reference center. However, after logging the system in Public Health, they do not rule out that in the future they can be delivered to any center.

A pilot mailbox cancer screening program has been developed since March at the Miguel Armijo Moreno Health Centers in the city. Salamancaand in Pisuerga, in Encomienda Stream (Valladolid). It was originally supposed to last until June, but “good welcome” professionals and users allowed this to continue. “Although it is too early to assess whether the implementation of the system has increased participation, measure of satisfaction “is that it facilitates the delivery and collection of samples”which led to its implementation throughout Castile and Leon.

Low participation

With this step we want to give new impetus to the program and increase participationsince it has not yet completely penetrated the population. It is true that the figures for Castile and León are similar to those for the country as a whole, but they are very far from other screening programs such as breast and cervical cancer, which have a longer history and target a group of women who are generally more methodical relate to this type of tests and taking care of your health.

The latest year-end data for 2023 shows that only 40.8 percent of guests took part in the programthat is, 156,413 out of 383,046 proposed. These are preliminary figures because once a person is invited, they have two years to go to the clinic and take the test. If we analyze the figures by province, we can see that The only one above 50 percent is Soria with 50.44, with Zamora at the bottom.with 36.9 percent of participants.

For the population from 50 to 75 years old

The colorectal cancer prevention and early detection program aims to reduce the morbidity and mortality from this tumor by identifying precancerous lesions (polyps) and colorectal cancer when they do not yet have symptoms. Screening test used stool occult blood testwhich needs to be done every two years, with a colonoscopy used as a test to confirm the diagnosis.

Until 2024, the target group was men and women aged from 50 and 69 years old. Since April, the Ministry of Health has decided to expand to 74 years old target population in accordance with the recommendations of the Spanish Association of Gastroenterologists and the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine. This move was made because today’s population over 70 years of age has a very different health status than ten years ago, allowing them to be offered certain therapeutic options that they previously could not tolerate.

“When screening is offered to the population, we do it because we know it is beneficial in the sense that we can diagnose a serious disease like cancer at a time when its prognosis is much better. What we’re saying is that in many cases where a colon cancer screening test comes back positive because of finding blood that is not visible in that stool, and that person is ordered to have a colonoscopy, many times in the same colonoscopy there is a polyp that is seen that This pathology has formed, which can be removed on the spot on an absolutely outpatient basis. This is about solving a problem that, if left undetected, becomes an invasive cancer. and potentially fatal. Therefore, the difference is colossal.”insists the director general of public health, who encourages the target population to take this simple test.