What are the key updates in the 2026 ACS colorectal cancer screening guideline?
COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING UPDATE | CLINICAL PRACTICE SERIES June 2026 | NP Chronicles Clinical Education The ACS Just Updated Its Colorectal Cancer Screening Guideline. Here’s What NPs Need to Know. By Valerie Watters-Burke, DNSc, MSN, MBA, FNP-BC, GNP-BC, PPCNP-BC On stool-based molecular testing, blood-based screening, and why “the best test” is still the one the patient actually completes CLINICAL AND PROFESSIONAL BOTTOM LINE The 2026 American Cancer Society colorectal cancer screening guideline does not change the core age recommendations: average-risk adults should still begin screening at age 45, continue through age 75 if life expectancy is greater than 10 years, individualize screening decisions from ages 76 to 85, and generally stop screening after age 85. What is new is the screening menu. The ACS now recognizes newly approved molecular stool-based tests — including the multitarget stool RNA test and next-generation multitarget stool DNA test — as prefer...