Even though it is estimated that over 90 percent of patients with colorectal cancer could be cured if detected at an early stage, colorectal cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death in the nation. This is believed to be due to the fact that the screening rate for the disease lags far behind that of other cancers, with only 30 to 40 percent of people over 50 years old actually being screened for colorectal cancer.

To commemorate March as National Colon Cancer Prevention month, this edition of BenchMarks focuses on potential new screening methodologies for the early detection of colorectal cancers. An interview with Ernest Hawk, M.D., chief of Gastrointestinal and Other Cancers Research Group at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), covers colorectal cancer screening tools and compares and contrasts colonoscopy (or optical colonoscopy) with virtual colonoscopy.