Colorectal cancer study of austria (Corsa): A population‐based multicenter study

Abstract

The COloRectal cancer Study of Austria (CORSA) is comprised more than 13,500 newly diagnosed colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, patients with high‐ and low‐risk adenomas as well as population‐based controls. The recruitment for the CORSA biobank is performed in close cooper-ation with the invited two‐stage CRC screening project “Burgenland PREvention trial of colorectal Disease with ImmunologiCal Testing” (B‐PREDICT). Annually, more than 150,000 inhabitants of the Austrian federal state Burgenland aged between 40 and 80 are invited to participate using FIT‐tests as an initial screening. FIT‐positive tested participants are offered a diagnostic colonos-copy and are asked to take part in CORSA, sign a written informed consent, complete questionnaires concerning dietary and lifestyle habits and provide an ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) blood sample as well as a stool sample. Additional CRC cases have been recruited at four hospitals in Vienna and a hospital in lower Austria. A major strength of CORSA is the popula-tion‐based controls who are FIT‐positive and colonoscopy‐confirmed to be free of polyps and/or CRC.