Colonoscopy for Women with History of Breast Cancer: How Often?

Women with a history of breast cancer are often concerned about developing second malignancies. Numerous studies have addressed the risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) in breast cancer patients, and no current guidelines recommend that they receive earlier or more frequent CRC screening.

To determine the prevalence of CRC in women with breast cancer, investigators performed a meta-analysis and systematic review of 37 retrospective cohort studies and 8 case-control studies involving more than 1 million women with breast cancer, of whom more than 9000 had incident CRC.

A random-effects model showed that the pooled event rate for CRC in the retrospective studies was significantly lower for women with breast cancer (0.7%). In the case-control studie…