Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in Manitoba. About 360 men and women die from the disease each year and 800 others are diagnosed annually.

To improve colorectal cancer outcomes, Manitoba is becoming Canada's first colorectal cancer centre of excellence through coordinated screening, rapid diagnosis, staging and treatment services, and follow-up care. When developing treatment plans, it is important that the stage of the disease is accurately diagnosed. Currently, it takes considerable time to perform the tests required for diagnosis and then to coordinate treatment between family doctors, specialists, radiology, pathology and oncologists (surgical, medical and radiation). The centre will speed up that process by bringing patients into a multi-disciplinary focus of expert care, right from the beginning.

• to standardize excellent care and knowledge translation of best practices across the province
• to rapidly adopt new knowledge into practice including tissue banking and molecular diagnosis

This highly specialized multidisciplinary team will also monitor and report on patterns of practice and outcomes.

Initiatives already underway include:

Screening
ColonCheck Manitoba was one of the first provincial colorectal cancer screening programs to be established using the Fecal Occult Blood Test or FOBT. Currently Manitoba has the highest level of colorectal cancer testing in Canada.

• to help detect colorectal cancer at an early stage, to reduce the number of Manitobans who die from the disease
• to work collaboratively with primary care providers (doctors, nurse practitioners) to encourage testing and increase screening rates