Cancer Risk Analysis in Families With Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer

  • Authors:
  • M. Kokuer;R. N.G. Naguib;P. Jancovic;H. B. Younghusband;R. C. Green

  • Affiliations:
  • BIOCORE, Coventry Univ.;-;-;-;-

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common fatal cancers in developed countries and represents a significant public-health issue. About 3%-5% of patients with CRC have hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC). Cancer morbidity and mortality can be reduced if early and intensive screening is pursued. However, despite advances in screening, population-wide genetic screening for HNPCC is not currently considered feasible due to its complexity and expense. If the risk of a family having HNPCC can be identified/assessed, then only the high-risk fraction of the population would undergo intensive screening. This identification is currently performed by a genetic counselor/physician who makes the decision based on some pre-defined criteria. Here, we report on a system to identify the risk of a family having HNPCC based on its history. We compare artificial neural networks and statistical approaches for assessing the risk of a family having HNPCC and discuss the experimental results obtained by these two approaches