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Natural history of adenomas

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Abstract

One-third of individuals over the age of 55 years have single or multiple colorectal adenomas. During a subsequent period of 10 years, 3–5% of adenoma-bearing individuals will probably develop a carcinoma. The rather low conversion rate from benign to malignant disease indicates that most individuals with adenomas will never develop colorectal carcinoma. More knowledge is required to predict the outcome of the individual adenoma in a given patient. This will probably be obtained by increasing progress within gene technology and through large prospective follow-up studies of adenoma-bearing patients.

Résumé

A partir de 55 ans, on voit se développer chez un tiers de la population un ou plusieurs adénomes colorectaux. Dans les 10 ans à venir, 3 à 5% de ces patients adénomateux deviendront cancereux. Le taux plutôt bas de passage de l'adénome au cancer signifie que la plupart des individus ayant des adénomes n'auront jamais de cancer colorectal. Il faut élargir nos connaissances pour prévoir le devenir de chaque patient adénomateux. On y parviendra probablement grâce au progrès constant dans la technologie des gènes et grâce aux grandes études prospectives de suivi des patients à adénome.

Resumen

Una tercera parte de los individuos mayores de 55 años poseen adenomas Únicos o mÚltiples de la región colorrectal. En el curso del siguiente decenio, 3–5% de las personas con adenomas tienen la probabilidad de desarrollar un carcinoma. La relativamente baja tasa de conversión del adenoma benigno a neoplasia maligna indica que la mayoría de aquellas que tienen un adenoma jamás habrán de desarrollar carcinoma colorrectal. Se requiere mayores conocimientos para lograr predecir la evolución final del paciente con adenoma. Tales conocimientos probablemente serán obtenidos mediante el progreso en la tecnología genética y a través de amplios estudios prospectivos de seguimiento de los pacientes con adenomas.

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  1. Department of Morphology II, Institute of Medical Biology, University of TromsØ, P.O. Box 977, 9001, TromsØ, Norway

    Tor J. Eide M.D.

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Eide, T.J. Natural history of adenomas. World J. Surg. 15, 3–6 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01658952

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