Abstract
The Czech Republic has launched the third decade of colorectal cancer screening. We were the second country in the world to introduce this screening at the national level, funded by public funds.
We have set up a completely unique collaboration in Europe between general practitioners and gastroenterolgists. In 2009, we were one of the first countries in the world to introduce screening colonoscopy as an option in the national free screening program, currently from the age of 50.
Since 2007, we have been developing an internationally comparable data audit of screening. In 2014, we introduced address invittions, which managed to increase the participation in screening above the limit of 35% in the addressed target population.
As one of the first countries, we switched to immunochemical tests for occult stool bleeding (iTOKS), although qualitative, and later, also at the head of an imaginary peloton of countries developing screening, we introduced quantitative iTOKS at the national level. No one (in our country or in the world) doubts the benefits of colorectal cancer screening.
Of all the screening programs (along with cervical screening), it has the strongest evidence base, is the least controversial, and has the best results. Screening, in which general practitioners play a key role in our country, has fundamentally contributed to positive changes in the epidemiology of colorectal cancer in the last 20 years.