A study, presented at 2017 Digestive Disease Week, May 7 to May 9 in Chicago, explored whether patients with intermediate-risk adenomas needed surveillance colonoscopies, Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News reports.
London, England-based Imperial College London's Wendy Atkin, PhD, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort analysis on the effects of colonoscopy surveillance on colorectal cancer incidence. Researchers found 11,944 patients had intermediate-risk adenomas between 1990 and 2010. Approximately 58 percent of those patients had a surveillance visit, while 42 percent underwent only a baseline visit. Researchers compared the groups after a median eight-year follow-up.
Here's what they found:
1. After researchers followed up, 210 cancers were diagnosed.
2. One surveillance visit was associated with a 43 percent reduction in risk for CRC, two visits were associated with a 49 percent reduction.
3. The incidence of CRC among the hazard ratios subset decreased after one surveillance exam.
4. The incidence of CRC was 247 for high-risk patients and 93 for low-risk patients.
Researchers concluded, "For patients with high-risk features, a single follow-up exam had a profound effect. One surveillance exam reduced CRC risk by 48 percent, and two exams by 55 percent. The greatest benefit was seen in patients with poor-quality exams and high-risk lesions, of which one surveillance exam reduced the risk by 56 percent and two reduced risk by 66 percent over no surveillance."