MONDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) -- In the community setting, after colonoscopic polyp detection, colonoscopy-related factors such as incomplete polyp removal and lack of surveillance colonoscopies are more important than polyp characteristics in predicting subsequent colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, according to a study published in the Aug. 21 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

To examine the role of colonoscopy-related factors and polyp characteristics on the risk for CRC after detection of colonoscopic polyps, Hermann Brenner, M.D., M.P.H., of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, and colleagues used data from a previously published population-based, case-control study involving 3,148 case participants with CRC and 3,274 control patients.

The researchers identified 155 case participants and 260 control participants with physician-validated polyp detection in the preceding 10 years. Among cases, characteristics that were significantly more common included: incomplete removal of all polyps (odds ratio [OR], 3.73); no surveillance colonoscopy within five years (OR, 2.96); and detection of three or more polyps (OR, 2.21). Overall, nearly twice as many CRC cases were due to colonoscopy-related rather than polyp-related characteristics (41.1 versus 21.7 percent).

"We found colonoscopy-related factors (in particular, lack of complete removal of all polyps and lack of surveillance colonoscopy within five years) to be more important predictors of CRC occurrence after colonoscopic detection of polyps (other than hyperplastic polyps) than polyp characteristics," the authors conclude.

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