NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The results of a new study support the 2006 consensus guidelines for monitoring patients with a known increased risk of colon cancer. The guidelines recommend that a colonoscopy be performed 3 years after removal of three or more small adenomatous polyps - the type likely to develop into cancer -- or one advanced adenoma.
The study, reported Sunday at the 100th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Los Angeles, also found that three other factors -- age over 65, male gender, and obesity -- independently raise the risk of polyp recurrence.
In a telephone interview, study presenter Dr. Adeyinka O. Laiyemo, a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, noted that repeat colonoscopies make up a significant portion of endoscopic practices. The current findings could help physicians further stratify patients at greatest need for follow-up colonoscopies.
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