WEDNESDAY, Sept. 30, 2020 — Many patients with biopsy-confirmed advanced colorectal polyps are unaware of their need for repeat colonoscopy as well as the proper surveillance interval, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Digestive Systems.

Evin Rothschild, from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and colleagues identified 249 consecutive patients (aged 40 to 95 years) from relatively affluent communities in South Florida who had biopsy-confirmed advanced colorectal polyps (2013 to 2017). Of these patients, 84 participated in telephone interviews.

The researchers found that 24 interviewed patients (28.6 percent) were unaware of either the need for a repeat colonoscopy or the proper surveillance interval. Specifically, 14 patients were unaware of the proper three-year interval to obtain a follow-up surveillance colonoscopy and 10 were not aware that they required a follow-up surveillance colonoscopy.

“The ability to address the clinical and public health challenges posed by these data would reduce premature and avoidable morbidity and mortality in all their high-risk patients with biopsy proven advanced colorectal polyps from future recurrences as well as the development of colorectal cancer,” the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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