The headlines say colorectal cancer is surging in the under-50s. Michael Bretthauer, the colorectal screening authority behind the Nordic trials and the EU-funded ECOPOP consortium, thinks the panic is misplaced, and he has the population data to argue it. In Scandinavian registries, risk in people under 50 has climbed from 5 to 7 per 100,000: real, but an increase from a very small number to a still-very-small number. Bretthauer unpacks what's actually driving the trend (lifestyle and obesity, not faster-growing tumours or changed genetics), why a chunk of "young CRC" turns out to be incidental carcinoids rather than adenocarcinoma, and why he'd still treat by stage and comorbidity, not age. He also makes the case against following the USA in lowering the screening age, and against fear-mongering as a clinical posture. Plus a look at whether endoscopic resection can replace surgery in early disease.

Article on carcinoid tumours, Dr. Montminy