Colonoscopy interval of at least 5 years is safe
Clinical Question
What is the yield of screening colonoscopy 5 years after an initially normal examination result?
Bottom Line
Five years after a normal colonoscopy result, a second examination detected no cancers and only 16 of 1256 patients had an advanced neoplastic polyp. The risk that those "advanced polyps" will progress to cancer is only approximately 1% per year (Gastroenterology 1987;93:1009-13), so a 10-year interval as currently recommended by most organizations is perfectly reasonable and appears to provide a good balance between risk, benefit, and cost. An even longer interval may be reasonable if we can define low-risk patients on the basis of personal habits, family history, or genetics. (LOE = 2b)
Reference
Imperiale TF, Glowinski EA, Lin-Cooper C, et al. Five year risk of colorectal neoplasia after negative screening colonoscopy. N Engl J Med 2008;359(12):1218-1224. [PMID:18799558]
Study Design
Cohort (retrospective)
Funding
Government
Setting
Outpatient (any)
Synopsis
Current recommendations for colonoscopy generally suggest a 10-year interval, although the United States Preventive Services Task Force did not specify an interval because of a lack of good data. This study used a registry of 36 endoscopists in Indiana to identify adults older than 50 years without serious bowel disease who had a normal initial colonoscopy result (N = 2436). The screening program routinely recommended a second examination 5 years after an initial normal examination result, and 1256 patients (51.6%) complied. The researchers attempted to contact the patients who did not have a follow-up colonoscopy, but only received responses from 26%. No patients died of interval colon cancer based on death registry data. The second colonoscopy identified no adenocarcinomas (95% CI, 0 - 0.24%) and only 19 advanced adenomas in 16 persons (1.3%), defined as a tubular adenoma of at least 10 mm, a polyp with at least 25% villous component, and any polyp with high-grade dysplasia. Among all 1256 patients screened, 79 would need to be rescreened at 5 years to detect an advanced adenoma. Among men, 55 would need to be rescreened; 182 women, however, would need to be rescreened. For persons with hyperplastic polyps on baseline colonoscopy, the number needed to screen would be 50; among those with no polyps at baseline the number needed to screen would be 88.
Citation
Barry, Henry, et al., editors. "Colonoscopy Interval of at Least 5 Years Is Safe." EE+ POEM Archive, John Wiley & Sons, 2024. Evidence Central, evidence.unboundmedicine.com/evidence/view/infoPOEMs/426798/all/Colonoscopy_interval_of_at_least_5_years_is_safe.
Colonoscopy interval of at least 5 years is safe. In: Barry HH, Ebell MHM, Shaughnessy AFA, et al, eds. EE+ POEM Archive. John Wiley & Sons; 2024. https://evidence.unboundmedicine.com/evidence/view/infoPOEMs/426798/all/Colonoscopy_interval_of_at_least_5_years_is_safe. Accessed December 9, 2024.
Colonoscopy interval of at least 5 years is safe. (2024). In Barry, H., Ebell, M. H., Shaughnessy, A. F., & Slawson, D. C. (Eds.), EE+ POEM Archive. John Wiley & Sons. https://evidence.unboundmedicine.com/evidence/view/infoPOEMs/426798/all/Colonoscopy_interval_of_at_least_5_years_is_safe
Colonoscopy Interval of at Least 5 Years Is Safe [Internet]. In: Barry HH, Ebell MHM, Shaughnessy AFA, Slawson DCD, editors. EE+ POEM Archive. John Wiley & Sons; 2024. [cited 2024 December 09]. Available from: https://evidence.unboundmedicine.com/evidence/view/infoPOEMs/426798/all/Colonoscopy_interval_of_at_least_5_years_is_safe.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - ELEC
T1 - Colonoscopy interval of at least 5 years is safe
ID - 426798
ED - Barry,Henry,
ED - Ebell,Mark H,
ED - Shaughnessy,Allen F,
ED - Slawson,David C,
BT - EE+ POEM Archive
UR - https://evidence.unboundmedicine.com/evidence/view/infoPOEMs/426798/all/Colonoscopy_interval_of_at_least_5_years_is_safe
PB - John Wiley & Sons
DB - Evidence Central
DP - Unbound Medicine
ER -