Risk of post colonoscopy colorectal cancer following screening colonoscopy with low-risk or no adenomas: A...

In the Danish faecal occult blood test based bowel cancer screening programme, the first round was rolled out over 4 years. After roll-out, the planned faecal test recall procedure for individuals with either no or low risk adenomas at colonoscopy is 8 and 2 years, respectively. Here, we aimed to investigate the post colonoscopy colorectal cancer incidence in these two groups.

All Danish screening individuals from 2014 to 2015 with a positive faecal test and either no or low risk adenomas at colonoscopy were included and followed for 3 years post screening for the event of colorectal cancer through national registries.

Out of 533,023 submitted faecal tests and 36,673 positive tests, 17,627 had no or low risk adenomas. We identified 60 (0.34%) individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer within 3 years, 18 (0.29%) in the low risk adenoma group, and 42 (0.37%) in the no adenomas group (p = 0.44). Advancing age (HR = 1.079, p < 0.001) and higher faecal test value (HR = 1.001, p = 0.002) increased hazard of colorectal cancer occurrence, whereas male sex (HR = 1.3, p = 0.308) and having low risk adenomas (HR = 0.729, p = 0.264) did not.

We found no difference in post colonoscopy colorectal cancer occurrence between individuals with either no or low risk adenomas. Instead, advancing age and increased faecal test value was associated with a higher risk of post colonoscopy colorectal cancer.