RSS Feeds
The Effectiveness of Colonoscopy in Reducing Mortality From Colorectal Cancer
- Perry J. Pickhardt, MD;
- David H. Kim, MD; and
- Cesare Hassan, MD
- From University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53705, and “Nuovo Regina Margherita” Hospital, Rome, Italy.
TO THE EDITOR:
We read with interest the recent article by Baxter and colleagues (1). This landmark article demonstrated a clear benefit of colonoscopy for left-sided colorectal cancer but failed to show any survival benefit for right-sided colorectal cancer. Plausible explanations for this important observation include unique tumor biology for a subset of right-sided colorectal cancer and technical factors resulting in missed right-sided colorectal cancer by colonoscopy. In fact, an alternate cancer pathway distinct from the typical adenoma–carcinoma sequence—the serrated polyp pathway—has been identified. The serrated polyp pathway is a predominately right-sided …
