Colonoscopic Polypectomy and Long-Term Prevention of Colorectal-Cancer Deaths

On the basis of long-term follow-up data from the National Polyp Study, the authors estimate that mortality from colorectal cancer was about 50% lower among patients who had adenomatous polyps removed than in the general population. It has been a long-standing belief that screening for colorectal cancer can affect mortality from the disease in two ways: by detecting cancers at an early, curable stage and by detecting and removing adenomas. 1 Detection of early-stage colorectal cancer has been shown to be associated with a reduction in mortality from colorectal cancer in screening trials. 2 – 4 However, an adenomatous polyp is a much more common neoplastic finding on endoscopic screening. We previously reported that colonoscopic polypectomy in the National Polyp Study (NPS) cohort reduced the incidence of colorectal cancer. 5 An important question is whether the cancers prevented by colonoscopic . . .