A large number of studies published last year in peer-reviewed medical journals help
to better define the advantages and limitations of the different options for colorectal
cancer screening. Direct colonoscopy screening appears to have the greatest potential
to markedly reduce both the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer, but many
obstacles limiting its widespread use in the general at-risk population still exist,
and many questions remain incompletely answered. Recent studies stress the fact that
finding and resecting advanced adenomatous polyps, and thereby preventing cancer,
is becoming a primary objective of screening programs. Several papers also show the
potential of emerging new methods of screening for specific markers in stool and for
imaging the colon with computed-tomographic colonography (virtual colonoscopy). Other
important publications highlighted in this review deal with the diagnosis of colorectal
neoplasia, familial colorectal cancer, colorectal polyps and the adenoma-carcinoma
sequence, and new and novel methods of improving the efficiency and safety of colonoscopic
polypectomy.
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J. H. Bond, M.D.
University of Minnesota · Chief, Gastroenterology Section (111D) · VA Medical Center
·
One Veterans Drive · Minneapolis, MN 55417 · USA
Fax: + 1-612-725-2248
Email: john.bond@med.va.gov
