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Initial Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer through Colonoscopy or Emergent Surgery-Clinicopathological Features that Support Early Screening

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Hellenic Journal of Surgery

Abstract

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy in the industrial western world and the second cause of cancer death. Its evolution is slow; therefore it constitutes a favourable disease for the application of prevention methods.

Aim

To show the diagnostic process of CRC (colonoscopy or surgery), highlight clinicopathological features associated with diagnosis (tumour stage and size, symptoms, etc) and record certain patient characteristics.

Methods

This study included patients from the prefecture of Drama Greece, who were initially diagnosed with CRC. They were divided into three groups: those who underwent a screening colonoscopy, those who underwent a colonoscopy due to symptoms (diagnostic colonoscopy) and those who were subjected to emergent surgery. Sex, age, symptoms, surgery type, tumour size, stage at diagnosis and habits were investigated.

Results

The study included 52.6% (n=118) male and 47.4% (n=106) female patients. The mean age was 74.6 years. The group of screening colonoscopy included 5.8% of patients, the group of diagnostic colonoscopy 87% and the group of emergent surgery 7.2% of patients. Stage I CRC, with the most favourable prognosis, was diagnosed more frequently in the group of screening colonoscopy than in those of diagnostic colonoscopy and emergent surgery (38.5%, 4.6% and 0% respectively). At least 61.5%, 52.3% and 81.25% of each group respectively had never undergone a screening colonoscopy.

Conclusions

Nearly 95% of the patients were diagnosed after symptom development and had more advanced disease. The contribution of colonoscopy in prompt CRC diagnosis (asymptomatic tumours) is crucial and well-organised screening programs should be applied in the general population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, General Hospital of Drama, Drama, Greece

    Konstantinos A Paschos & A Chatzigeorgiadis

Authors
  1. Konstantinos A Paschos
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  2. A Chatzigeorgiadis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Konstantinos A Paschos.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare that the study has been approved by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. Also all patients gave their written informed consent prior to their inclusion to the study.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

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Paschos, K.A., Chatzigeorgiadis, A. Initial Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer through Colonoscopy or Emergent Surgery-Clinicopathological Features that Support Early Screening. Hellenic J Surg 92, 51–58 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13126-020-0546-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13126-020-0546-7

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