NEW YORK (AP) -- A new study shows many colon cancer patients
aren't getting all the screenings recommended after surgery to make
sure the disease hasn't returned.

Of the more than 4,000 patients 66 and older looked at, only
about 40 percent got all the doctor visits, blood tests and the
colonoscopy advised in the three years after cancer surgery.

Most of the time it was the blood tests that went neglected. The
study's leader says he's putting most of the blame for that on the
patients' doctors, saying perhaps the follow-up care was being
provided by doctors who aren't specialists and who aren't familiar
with the guidelines.

About 149,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with
colorectal cancer this year. Survival after five years varies from
90 percent for cancer that hasn't spread to 10 percent for advanced
cases.