Support for Follow-Up Colonoscopy 1 Year After Cancer Resection

Colorectal cancer surveillance guidelines consistently recommend careful perioperative colonoscopy to identify and clear synchronous neoplasia in the colon; however, guidelines vary with respect to follow-up intervals after such clearing. A recent joint committee from the U.S. Multisociety Task Force on Colorectal Cancer and the American Cancer Society recommended that follow-up examinations should be performed within 1 year after the completion of perioperative clearing (Gastroenterology 2006; 130:1865). Researchers now present new data to support this 1-year follow-up recommendation. The retrospective study was performed within a U.S. HMO and involved 1002 patients who had undergone surgical resection of colorectal cancer. Findings from f…