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This weekend, a study out of Oslo, Norway, published in the New England Journal of Medicine questioned the effectiveness of colonoscopy in preventing colorectal cancer, the second deadliest cancer in the United States. The study triggered a swell of media reports casting doubt on the procedure.

It also inspired a lot of tweeting and more than a few threads of analysis by experts, many of them taking issue with the simple conclusions made by news headlines or the study itself.

The Colorectal Cancer Alliance’s CEO, Michael Sapienza, made our position clear on Twitter.
Alliance CEO Twitter
 

Numerous physicians and researchers, including Houston-based gastroenterologist Manreet Kaur, took issue with the study’s methodology.
Manreet Kaur tweet
 

More on the study — and the caution we should use while reading it — from Dr. Arif Kamal, American Cancer Society’s chief patient officer.Arif Kamal tweet
 

Dr. Hamed Khalili, an associate professor at Harvard University, wonders if the study emphasized the wrong aspect of prevention. Hamed Khalili tweet
 

Dr. Meghan May, a professor of microbiology and infectious diseases at the University of New England, takes issue with some of the reporting on the study.
Meghan May tweet
 

Dr. Leo Nissola sets his sights on one report in particular. 
Dr.Leo Nissola tweet
 

Anirban Maitra, pancreatic cancer researcher and GI pathologist, shared talk from around the water cooler.
Anirban Maitra tweet
 

Jeremy Faust, an ER physician, was among the first to weigh in with a substantial piece, in which he encouraged readers to consider glimmers of hope before “flushing colonoscopies down the toilet.” 
Jeremy Faust tweet
 

Gastroenterologist and podcaster Dr. Kaveh Hoda produced a thread reinforcing Faust and adds that “populations in the countries of study are different than the US makeup.”Kaveh Hoda tweet
 

Joining many others, Dr. John Damianos of Yale pointed to a critical editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, which identifies some of the important issues in the study.
John Damianos tweet
 

Dr. Leonidas Platanias, director of Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University, calls for increased education.
Leonidas Platanias tweet
 

With all the media attention on this study, the public has questions. Dr. Sophie Balzora of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine has answers.Sophie Balzora tweet
 

Dr. Erin King-Mullins, a colorectal surgeon in Atlanta, is looking ahead to National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
Erin King-Mullins tweet
 

Because, as Dr. Juan José Chaves C. wrote:
Juan-jose-chaves-tweet
 

Read the Alliance’s statement on this study here.
 

 

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