June 15, 2000 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Doctors writing for the New England Journal of Medicine now have evidence that suggests one type of test for polyps in the colon is better than another.
It is currently accepted medical practice to remove polyps found in the colon, search for additional polyps and arrange for long-term follow-up of the patient. Doctors do this because previous studies have suggested that certain types of polyps are precursors of colorectal cancer and that removing them will prevent the development of this cancer.
As part of the National Polyp Study, researchers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center gave patients both colonoscopic examinations and double-contrast barium enemas to detect polyps. They found that while the enema did reasonably well for the detection of larger polyps, colonoscopic examination was the more effective screening method.
"In patients who have undergone colonoscopic polypectomy, colonoscopic examination is a more effective method of surveillance than double-contrast barium enema," the researchers concluded.
Each year, approximately 130,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed and 56,000 people die from the disease. Colorectal cancer surpasses both breast cancer and prostate cancer in mortality and it is second only to lung cancer in the number of deaths in the United States. Colorectal cancer is treatable, and often curable when detected in its early stages. There are also very effective ways to prevent colorectal cancer.
