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Detrimental impact of symptom-detected colorectal cancer

Surgical Endoscopy volume 34, pages 569–579 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

The incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer (CRC) have been steadily decreasing, largely attributable to screening colonoscopies that either remove precancerous lesions or identify CRC earlier. We aimed to assess the prognostic difference between colorectal cancers diagnosed by screening (SC), diagnostic (DC), or surveillance (SU) colonoscopies.

Methods

All 1809 surgically treated patients with primary CRC diagnosed through colonoscopy at our tertiary center (2004–2015) were extracted from a prospectively maintained database. Oncologic outcomes were compared, including multivariate Cox regression.

Results

Diagnostic patients presented with more advanced disease (15.0% vs. 53.2% (SC) and 55.3% (SU) AJCC I, P < 0.001), subsequently leading to impaired survival and higher recurrence rates (P < 0.001). After adjustment for age, ASA-score and gender, oncologic outcomes remained significantly worse after DC. Hazard ratios (HR) of overall mortality (OS) compared to DC were 0.36 for SC and 0.58 for SU (P < 0.001). Adjusted HRs of disease-free survival (DFS) were 0.43 and 0.32, respectively (P < 0.001). Worse outcomes in OS withstood adjustment for stage, tumor site and (neo)adjuvant treatment (SC: HR 0.46, P < 0.001; SU: HR 0.73, P = 0.036). The benefits of SC were particularly seen in colon cancer, stages I–II and female patients. With regard to DFS, outcomes were less profound and mainly true in early stage disease and surveillance patients.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the enormous impact of asymptomatic screening in CRC. Patients with CRC diagnosed through screening or surveillance had a significantly better prognosis compared to patients who presented symptomatically. This emphasizes the importance of screening.

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Abbreviations

ACS:

American Cancer Society

AJCC:

American Joint Committee on Cancer

ASA:

American Society of Anesthesiologists

BMI:

Body Mass Index, kg/m2

CEA:

Carcinoembryonic Antigen

CI:

Confidence Interval

CRC:

Colorectal Cancer

CT:

Computed Tomography

DC:

Diagnostic Colonoscopy

DFS:

Disease-free Survival

FOBT:

Fecal Occult Blood Testing

HR:

Hazard Ratio

IBD:

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

IQR:

Interquartile Range

NCCN:

National Comprehensive Cancer Network

OS:

Overall Survival

SD:

Standard Deviation

SC:

Screening Colonoscopy

SU:

Surveillance Colonoscopy

TNM:

Tumor Node Metastasis classification

USPSTF:

US Preventive Services Task Force

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Lieve G. J. Leijssen, Anne M. Dinaux, Hiroko Kunitake, Liliana G. Bordeianou & David L. Berger

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  1. Lieve G. J. Leijssen
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  2. Anne M. Dinaux
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  3. Hiroko Kunitake
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  4. Liliana G. Bordeianou
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  5. David L. Berger
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Contributions

All authors have contributed to this manuscript in the following way: substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the data. Furthermore, all authors drafted or revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the final version and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

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Correspondence to David L. Berger.

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Lieve Leijssen, Anne Dinaux, Hiroko Kunitake, Liliana Bordeianou, David Berger have no conflicts of interest or financial ties to disclose.

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Leijssen, L.G.J., Dinaux, A.M., Kunitake, H. et al. Detrimental impact of symptom-detected colorectal cancer. Surg Endosc 34, 569–579 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-019-06798-8

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