4 take-aways in colon cancer screening, prevention at DDW 2018

WASHINGTON — In this exclusive video, Seth D. Crockett, MD, MPH, of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, highlights four key take-aways in colorectal cancer screening and prevention at Digestive Disease Week.

“There was a lot of discussion about the new American Cancer Society recommendations about age to begin colorectal cancer screening,” he said. While some were in support of lowering the screening age to 45 years, “there’s also some concern that expanding the age range for [CRC screening] may not be the best use of resources.”

Additionally, Crocket highlighted that he was part of a large multicenter randomized trial evaluating outcomes after resection of large polyps.

“The interesting findings were that large polyps that were clipped following removal were at lower risk of bleeding ... than polypectomies that were not clipped,” he said. “I think they’re really interesting results and potentially practice changing.”

There were also interesting talks about serrated polyps and surveillance internals, he said. The Multi Society Task Force guidelines on surveillance intervals are currently being updated and are expected to be released either later this year or early next year, he added.

Finally, there were several groups reporting data on the use of artificial intelligence in colonoscopy, which “has the potential to really have a big impact on colonoscopic screening,” Crockett said.

Disclosures: Crockett reports no relevant financial disclosures.