Overutilization of surgery for the resection of benign colorectal lesions: the hidden reasons for inappropriate referral!

At the beginning, it was surgery! Surgery was the only pre-endoscopic technique to remove colorectal polyps detected at barium enema or proctoscopy. When endoscopic polypectomy was introduced, it was clear that most of the polyps could be removed noninvasively. In the pre-endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) era, however, a gray area between endoscopy and surgery remained. When dealing with benign-appearing lesions, it was unofficially assumed that lesions > 4 cm or expanding in more than two consecutive folds were to be treated surgically. BIG size, BIG treatment! Such a paradigm was somewhat facilitated by the implementation of laparoscopic colorectal surgery, which was believed to minimize surgery-related morbidity, especially in the right colon.

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
22. April 2021

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