Last week, Veerle Coupé and Marjolein Greuter visited the World Endoscopy Organization (WEO) colorectal cancer (CRC) screening meeting in Barcelona. This meeting focused on new technologies, original research and new practices to update all attendees on recent advances in CRC screening. Due to the small setting, there were detailed discussions between the attendees and presenters. During the day, there were several sessions with inspiring speakers who presented the results of their projects.

Session: Right-sided lesions and interval cancers

Right-sided lesions have different molecular characteristics compared to left-sided lesions. This suggests that also the natural history of these lesions differs. During this session, an overview of the current knowledge regarding the differences in natural history between right- and left-sided lesions was presented. Furthermore, important research gaps were identified.

Session: FIT for screening

Several countries such as the Netherlands and Italy, have implemented CRC screening programmes based on fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening. However, each country uses a different brand of FIT and/or a different cut-off. This hampers direct comparison of important screening programme outcomes such as positive predictive values and detection rates. During this session, methods to improve direct comparison between different FITs were discussed.

Session: Screening programme updates

In this session, results from the Canadian, Danish and British national screening programme were presented. This session provided a platform to discuss issues regarding implementation and optimisation of CRC screening programmes.