Colonic Polyps and Colon Cancer

Globally, more than 1 million new cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) are diagnosed each year and CRC accounts for 10% of all cancer deaths. Symptoms (i.e., hematochezia, melena, change in bowel habits, etc.) and signs (i.e., anemia, positive fecal occult blood test, etc.) of CRC can be subtle and non-specific, but often indicate relatively advanced-stage disease. Since prognosis is inversely associated with CRC stage, early detection of premalignant adenomas or locally-invasive cancers is a clinical priority. Therapy for invasive malignancy is multi-modal and can involve surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Although not universally applied, guidelines have been developed for post-therapeutic CRC surveillance to detect recurrent and metachronous lesions.