Findings from the NordiCC (Nordic Colorectal Cancer) group, a 13-year follow-up study that "enrolled men and women aged 55-64 years, who were randomly allocated to colonoscopy screening or no screening" was recently published in The Lancet. Study authors commented that they did not observe a clinically relevant cancer stage shift between the screening and non-screened groups of participants. Further, "stage shift of cancer due to screening applies only to cancers detected at screening or surveillance after screening." At 13 year follow-up, screening-detected colorectal cancer only occurred in 16% in the screening group; "cancers detected later were due to clinical symptoms, as there was no colonoscopy screening."
Click here to read more about the NordiCC study.
Sources mentioned:
- Kaminski M, Kalager M, Løberg, et al. for the NordiCC Study Group. Long-term effects of colonoscopy screening on colorectal cancer incidence and mortality: a multicountry, population-based randomised controlled trial . The Lancet; Published online 4 May 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00508-8
- Shaukat A. Colonoscopy, cancer prevention, and the new arithmetic of benefit . The Lancet; Published online 4 May 2026. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(26)00794-4
The NordiCC long-term result is a good lesson in reading screening trials carefully: reduced incidence without a mortality shift forces a harder conversation about who screening actually helps and how follow-up is done. Screening-detected cancers were only a minority of cases at 13 years, which suggests the programme's value depends heavily on what happens after the first test. This is the kind of nuanced evidence the oncology brothers discussions handle well, separating a headline result from what it means for patients.
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