Hello. I’m Dr David Johnson, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia.
The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) just released their 2021 clinical guidelines for colorectal cancer screening. To develop their evidence-based recommendations, the authors identified several key questions and then surveyed the latest evidence on the topic. I wanted to give you some highlights from their work in order to guide your clinical judgment and care.
It is estimated that in 2020 in the United States there were approximately 148,000 new cases of colorectal cancer and 53,000 deaths resulting from this disease; this shows that there is clearly room for improvement. Approximately 70% of colorectal cancer develops from the traditional adenoma carcinoma sequence, whereas 30% develops from the sessile serrated lesion-to-carcinoma pathway, a new form of categorization that replaces the term “sessile serrated polyps.”