New colorectal cancer screening programme for Luxembourg

Luxembourg’s Minister of Health Lydia Mutsch presented the first organised screening programme for colorectal cancer in the Grand Duchy.

It’s the second screening programme at the national level (the other being screening mammograms).

“Every citizen aged 55 to 74 will be entitled to a high-quality screening and multidisciplinary care,” Minister Mutsch stated.

284 new cases each year

In Luxembourg, colorectal cancer is the second most common form of cancer for both men and women, and it’s the second cause of cancer-related deaths. Colorectal cancer develops in the colon and rectum, parts of the large intestine, normally beginning as a polyp.

Each year on average in Luxembourg, 284 cases are detected, yet it kills on average 124 people per annum. In many cases, there are no symptoms at the beginning, which is why detection at the early stages is so important, considering it’s curable in 9 out of 10 cases.