Colorectal cancer screening in the COVID-19 era

Table 3 Advantages and disadvantages of open access colonoscopies

Advantages		Disadvantages
No pre-colonoscopy consultations	Promotes development of an electronic risk-assessment system	Increased rates of inappropriate surveillance guidelines	Dependent on hospital infrastructure to facilitate OAC	High rates of no-shows and cancellations
Decreased healthcare expenditure	Shared medical records amongst patient’s care team	May take away from limited available resources		Loss of appointment spots needed to make up for COVID-19 backlog
Patients save time and money	Identifies high risk individuals
Decreased patient load on gastroenterologists	Recommends screening based on most recent CRC guidelines

CRC: Colorectal cancer; OAC: Open access colonoscopy; COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019.