Imaging Tests for the Staging of Colorectal Cancer Executive Summary

In the United States each year colon cancer is diagnosed in approximately 100,000 people and rectal cancer is diagnosed in another 50,000.1 Colorectal cancer usually affects older adults, with 90 percent of cases diagnosed in individuals 50 years of age and older.2 Colorectal cancer is often fatal, with approximately 50,000 deaths attributed to it each year in the United States.1 As such, it is both the third most common type of cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related death for both men and women. Health care costs associated with care of these cancers is high, second only to breast cancer.3,4