[The yield of endoscopic follow-up after removal of adenomatous polyps from the colon].

OBJECTIVE

To determine the results of follow-up endoscopy after resection of adenomatous polyps from the colon.

DESIGN

Retrospective.

SETTING

De Heel Hospital, department of Internal Medicine, Zaandam, the Netherlands.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

The 124 patients, 66 males and 58 females, with a mean age of 53 years (range: 23-74), in whom a colonpolyp had been removed endoscopically, who had no colonic carcinoma and no positive family history, were registered for follow-up after one year and after 3 or 5 years. In 1997, data were collected on the polyps found and removed at follow-up.

RESULTS

At the original coloscopy, 68 patients (55%) had one polyp, 46 (37%) had two to four polyps and 10 (8%) > or = five polyps. The localizations of the polyps were: rectum 17%, sigmoid 66%, descending colon 12%, transverse colon 3%, ascending colon 1% and caecum 1%. Over one-third of the polyps were larger than 1.5 cm. Ninety-eight patients underwent a first follow-up endoscopy after an average of 12 months (range: 0.4-57); one or more polyps were found and removed in 37 of them (38%). At a second follow-up endoscopy after an average of 28 months (range: 5.4-68 months), polyps were again found and removed in 26 of the 57 patients (46%). If two or more polyps had been removed at an earlier coloscopy, the risk of polyps being found again at the next coloscopy was larger (p < 0.001).