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Previous Volume 353:524-525 August 4, 2005 Number 5 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: Hampel and colleagues (May 5 issue)¹ suggest that a universal screening program for the detection of microsatellite instability in patients with colorectal cancer is feasible and probably desirable. However, it will not be inexpensive. We have estimated that such a screening program would cost in excess of $57,000 per germ-line–mutation carrier detected.² Furthermore, the benefits to the proband are modest, since neither treatment nor outcome is likely to change on the basis of test results. The cost-effectiveness of such a program thus depends heavily on the ability to locate and test relatives, since they have the most . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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