The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas said it has been chosen to participate in the U.S. National Institutes of Health's (NIH) new Population-Based Research Optimizing Screening Through Personalized Regimens (PROSPR) program aimed at optimizing colorectal cancer screening.
The $6.3 million grant establishes the university as one of three sites in the PROSPR colon screening network. The PROSPR initiative aims to optimize screening for breast, colon, and cervical cancer, including screening, diagnosis, and referral for treatment.
The NIH program will study the comparative effectiveness of screening technologies, weighing the benefits and harms across different cancer profiles, and researchers will conduct studies aimed at improving screening practices.
The colorectal cancer arm is set against a backdrop of emerging technologies such as CT colonography, new constraints in healthcare spending, racial and economic disparities in screening, and the publication of studies suggesting that different screening intervals might improve outcomes in different groups of individuals.
