The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that after a median follow-up of 7.7 years colorectal-cancer morality was lower among patients with low-risk adenomas removed and moderately higher in patients who had high-risk adenomas removed.
The researchers concluded that patients with low-risk adenoma removal may not benefit from colonoscopy surveillance every five years. Instead, the researchers suggest a less-intensive surveillance protocol could replace current guidelines, according to the MedPage report.
Surveillance practices differ if in the United States and Norway, and the study lacked data on colonoscopy quality. But, the results suggest surveillance colonoscopy guidelines may merit a second look.
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How one program is bringing bundled payments to colorectal cancer screening
