[Follow-up of patients after curative surgery for colorectal cancer]

Meta-analyses of randomised controlled studies show that intensive follow-up programmes after radical surgery for colorectal cancer have a more positive effect on total survival than do less intensive programmes, but the ideal programme has not yet been found. It appears that monitoring with carcinoembryonal antigen (CEA) and some kind of visualisation of the liver is a way forward, but we do not know how often it should be done. Colonoscopy should be offered every five years to look for metachronous cancer; patients with HNPCC should have a colonoscopy done even more often.