A statistical model for post- polypectomy surveillance: a virtual alternative to virtual colonoscopy?

摘要

Although colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, it can be prevented with screening. The most frequent neoplasms found during colorectal screening are adenomatous polyps. Removal of these lesions has been shown to reduce the risk of future colorectal cancer and advanced adenomas. To further minimize the risk of colorectal cancer, patients with adenomas are usually placed into a surveillance programme of periodic colonoscopy to remove missed synchronous and new metachronous adenomas and cancers. A large number of patients with adenomas are now being discovered as a result of the dramatic increase in screening colonoscopy, and this places a huge burden on medical resources applied to surveillance. Therefore, there is a need for increased efficiency of surveillance colonoscopy practices in order to decrease the cost, risk, and over-utilization of resources for unnecessary examinations.