Study: People With Colon Cancer History and Polyps Need Screening at 3-Year Intervals

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.

Findings of the study are scheduled to be presented at the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons annual meeting in Chicago.

Other sources: Ochsner Clinic