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Colorectal Cancer Surveillance

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The ASCRS Textbook of Colon and Rectal Surgery

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Abstract

The majority of colorectal cancers are resected for cure, leaving many patients eligible for ongoing surveillance. The best schema for clinically useful and cost-effective follow-up is still controversial, but the goals are clear. Rational follow-up should detect treatable recurrent cancers, identify and remove metachronous polyps, and identify possible hereditary influences in development of a colorectal cancer. In theory, such follow-up will increase the survival of patients with cancer and improve their quality of life by successfully treating recurrences, preventing metachronous cancers of the colon or rectum, as well as preventing subsequent hereditary cancers from developing in the patient and/or their family members. How to accomplish this is still controversial, but it is clear that accurate risk stratification and patient selection are central to any program of surveillance. The intensity of surveillance should be proportional to the patient’s risk of recurrence, and those patients unfit for further surgery because of age or comorbidity may be best served by colonoscopic follow-up only.

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Authors
  1. Brett T. Gemlo
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  2. David A. Rothenberger
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Chairman, Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Mayo Clinic Foundation, Rochester, MN, USA

    Bruce G. Wolff MD, FASCRS (Senior Editors) (Senior Editors)

  2. Professor of Surgery, Chief, Section of Colorectal Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    James W. Fleshman MD, FASCRS (Senior Editors) (Senior Editors)

  3. Chairman, Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, LA, USA

    David E. Beck MD, FASCRS (Senior Editors) (Senior Editors)

  4. Professor of Surgery, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Consultant, Colon and Rectal Surgery, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN, USA

    John H. Pemberton MD, FASCRS (Senior Editors) (Senior Editors)

  5. Chief of Staff, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, FL, USA

    Steven D. Wexner MD, FASCRS (Senior Editors) (Senior Editors)

  6. Victor W. Fazio Chair of Colorectal Surgery, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA

    James M. Church BSc, MBChB, MMed Sci, FASCRS (Associate Editors) (Associate Editors)

  7. Professor of Surgery, Chief, Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Julio Garcia-Aguilar MD, PhD, FASCRS (Associate Editors) (Associate Editors)

  8. Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Lahey Clinic, Burlington, MA, USA

    Patricia L. Roberts MD, FASCRS (Associate Editors) (Associate Editors)

  9. Professor of Surgery, Head, Section of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Theodore J. Saclarides MD, FASCRS (Associate Editors) (Associate Editors)

  10. Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of California, Irvine Medical Center, Orange, CA, USA

    Michael J. Stamos MD, FASCRS (Associate Editors) (Associate Editors)

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© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Gemlo, B.T., Rothenberger, D.A. (2007). Colorectal Cancer Surveillance. In: Wolff, B.G., et al. The ASCRS Textbook of Colon and Rectal Surgery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36374-5_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36374-5_32

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-24846-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-36374-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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