CHICAGO, IL — June 7, 2002 —
Patients with a family history of colon cancer and a personal history of polyps should be screened for colon cancer with a colonoscopy every three years, according to a new study to be presented at the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) Annual Meeting June 3-8 in Chicago.
Polyps are abnormal growths rising from the lining of the colon that may be precursors to colon cancer.
The study also concluded that patients with a family history of colon cancer who are not found to have polyps when initially screened for colon cancer should receive a follow-up colonoscopy every five years and that women may not need to be screened as frequently as men.
Conducted by colorectal surgeons at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, the study involved 832 patients with a family history of colon cancer who underwent periodic colonoscopies from 1981 to 2001.
“It is well known that patients with a family history of colon cancer are at much higher risk for developing the disease themselves,” said study researcher and colorectal surgeon David Beck, MD, chairman of the Ochsner Clinic Foundation’s Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery in New Orleans.
“But what we didn’t know and wanted to determine was how frequently they should be screened for colon cancer, given that it can most effectively be treated and even prevented if detected early.”
Patients in the study were on average 59 years of age (with a range of 11 years) when they had their initial colonoscopy; 52 percent were female.
The median interval for development of adenomatas polyps (benign colonic growths that have the potential to transform into cancer) was 9.3 years.
The patients in the study fell into two groups: those who had a positive baseline colonoscopy, which was defined as the discovery of at least one adenomatas polyp at the time of their initial screening, and those who had a negative baseline colonoscopy in which no polyps were discovered at the time of initial screening.
Two-hundred seventy-eight patients (33.4%) had positive baseline colonoscopies. These patients developed polyps in a significantly shorter period of time compared to the negative baseline colonoscopy patients (p<0.0005).
When screened three years after their baseline colonoscopy, 22% had developed additional polyps; five years after their baseline colonoscopy, 48% had.
תגובות רוצה להצטרף לדיון?
יש להתחבר כדי להגיב.
התחבראין תגובות עדיין. היה הראשון להגיב!