VIDEO: Pediatric colon cancer can be prevented with screening, dysplasia detection
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In a Healio video exclusive, Rene D. Gomez-Esquivel, MD, discusses risk factors for pediatric colon cancer, as well as best practices for screening and lesion resection, from his presentation at the 2023 NASPGHAN annual meeting.
“Colon cancer is the most common solid tumor of the GI tract in pediatrics,” Gomez-Esquivel, associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida, said. “The problem with pediatric cancer compared to adult colon cancer is that the pediatric patients tend to present with more advanced disease when it’s found. Pediatric colon cancer can be prevented if you screen and if the dysplasia is treated.”
Risk factors for pediatric colon cancer include inflammatory bowel disease and, with global cases of pediatric IBD “steadily increasing over the years,” it is critical to monitor patients who have colon involvement, Gomez-Esquivel noted.
These patients should be screened when they have had IBD for at least 8 years or immediately following a diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis, with a recommended screening interval between 7 to 10 years. Screening should be performed when inflammation is controlled, he said, to maximize lesion detection.
When dysplasia is identified, lesions should be removed via endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection.
“Once we do that, we can prevent colon cancer in this population of pediatric patients,” Gomez-Esquivel said.
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Gomez-Esquivel RD. Colorectal cancer screening in pediatric IBD: It’s a thing. Presented at: NASPGHAN; Oct. 4-7, 2023; San Diego.
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