|
A 20-year
study of people with a family history of colon cancer suggests
that those with polyps should be screened every three years
instead of the once every ten years recommended for persons
at average risk, according to researchers.
The researchers
at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans said that patients with
a family colorectal cancer history but who are not found to
have the polyps should still have a colonoscopy approximately
every five years.
Most cases
of colorectal cancer begin as non-cancerous polyps -- abnormal
growths on the lining of the colon and rectum which can become
cancerous -- and removal of these polyps can prevent development
of colorectal cancer.
In their
study, the Ochsner Clinic researchers tracked 832 men and
women with a family history of colon cancer, who received
periodic colonoscopies. Patients in the study without polyps
developed them on average in 9.3 years, the researchers said.
About
one-third of the participants had polyps at the outset of
the study, according to the researchers.One quarter of the
men and women in this group developed additional polyps within
three years and one half developed additional polyps within
five years.
But the
two-thirds of the participants who had no polyps at the outset
of the study developed the growths at a much slower rate.
Only 3 percent developed polyps within 3 years and only 13
percent developed polyps within 5 years.
Source:
Colorectal
Cancer Week of May 26, 2002
|
HOME PAGE
