Curie Brief
Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
News
One in four eligible U.S. adults still hasn't been screened for colorectal cancer — and it's not for lack of options. Updated ACS guidelines now include a blood-based test alongside stool tests and colonoscopy, but experts warn that easier doesn't always mean better. The real fix? Matching the right test to each patient's preferences to get more people screened in the first place.
Nearly 159,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2026, yet 1 in 4 eligible adults remains unscreened. The problem isn't a shortage of options — it's getting patients to actually use them. Updated American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines now include Guardant Health's Shield blood test as a last-resort option for patients who decline stool-based tests or colonoscopy, alongside newly added at-home stool tests like ColoSense (Geneoscopy) and Cologuard Plus (Exact Sciences).
The expanded menu has sparked pushback. The ACG and many gastroenterologists warn that blood-based tests — while convenient — miss 1 in 3 early-stage colorectal cancers and perform poorly at detecting precancerous polyps. Without clear implementation guardrails, experts fear "non-preferred" blood tests could drift into routine first-line use, undermining the preventive power of screening. Meanwhile, research shows 53% of adults prefer to start with an at-home test, jumping to 70% among the never-screened.
Why it matters: The best screening test is the one a patient will actually complete. Clinicians who tailor conversations to patient preferences — and health systems that build structured outreach — are best positioned to close the gap between guidelines and real-world action.
