Colorectal Cancer

SAN DIEGO — A new cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-based blood test shows promising performance in detecting colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous lesions, say the authors of new research.

Rachel B. Issaka, MD, MAS, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, presented the clinical data, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.

Issaka_Rachel_WASH_web.jpg

The authors of the study evaluated the performance of a cfDNA blood-based test in a population eligible for colorectal cancer screening. The researchers found that the test had high sensitivity for the detection of colorectal cancer and high specificity for advanced precancerous lesions.

This novel blood test could improve screening adherence and, ultimately, reduce colorectal cancer-related mortality, Dr. Issaka said during her presentation.

“This test has the potential to help us reach the 80% screening target in colorectal cancer. However, this will depend on many factors, including access, implementation, follow-up colonoscopy, and characteristics of the test,” Dr. Issaka said in an interview.

She added that, when approved for broader use, anyone who wants to use this blood test for colorectal cancer screening should have a frank conversation with their healthcare provider.

“Considering the person’s age, medical history, family history, and any potential symptoms, and how the test performs will dictate if it’s the right test for that person versus another screening strategy,” Dr. Issaka explained.
 

The Blood Test Detects Colorectal Cancer With High Accuracy

The investigators of the observational ECLIPSE trial evaluated the performance of the cfDNA-based blood test in 7861 individuals who were eligible for colorectal cancer screening. The study population included people from more than 200 rural and urban sites across 34 states, including community hospitals, private practices, gastroenterology clinics, and academic centers. “The study enrolled a diverse cohort that is reflective of the demographics of the intended use population in the US,” Dr. Issaka said during her talk.

The co-primary outcomes of the study were the test’s sensitivity for detecting colorectal cancer and its specificity for identifying advanced neoplasia.

In her presentation, Dr. Issaka highlighted that the test had 83.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 72.2%-90.3%) sensitivity for the detection of colorectal cancer, meaning that it was able to correctly identify most participants with the disease. The test’s sensitivity was even higher (87.5%; 95% CI, 75.3%-94.1%) for stage I, II, or III colorectal cancer. “These are the stages at which early intervention can have the greatest impact on patient prognosis,” Dr. Issaka said.

Moreover, the blood test showed 89.6% (95% CI, 88.8%-90.3%) specificity for advanced neoplasia, including colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous lesions. The specificity of the test for negative colonoscopy results (no colorectal cancer, advanced precancerous lesions, or nonadvanced precancerous lesions) was 89.9% (95% CI, 89.0%-90.7%).

Dr. Issaka highlighted that this cfDNA assay is the first blood-based test with performance comparable to current guideline-recommended noninvasive options for CRC.
 

The Blood Test Shows Limited Ability To Detect Advanced Precancerous Lesions

During her presentation, Dr. Issaka acknowledged that the cfDNA-based blood test had a lower sensitivity (13.2%; 95% CI, 11.3%-15.3%) for the detection of advanced precancerous lesions, suggesting that it may be more effective at identifying established cancers than early-stage precancerous changes. Low sensitivity was also observed for high-grade dysplasia (22.6%; 95% CI, 11.4%-39.8%). However, she emphasized that the test could still play a valuable role in a comprehensive screening approach, potentially serving as a first-line tool to identify individuals who would then undergo follow-up colonoscopy.

“Although blood-based tests perform well at finding cancers, they do not do so well at finding precancerous polyps. This is relevant because colorectal cancer is one of the few cancers that we can prevent by finding and removing precancerous polyps,” Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, said in an interview.

“Users must also understand that if the test result is abnormal, a colonoscopy is required to look for cancers and polyps that might have caused the abnormal result,” added Dr. May, associate professor at UCLA. She was not involved in the study.
 

Clinical Implications and Future Steps

According to the study published in the NEJM, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, and early detection is crucial for effective treatment. However, over a third of eligible individuals are not up to date with recommended screening.

During her talk, Dr. Issaka noted that colonoscopy is the most commonly used screening method for colorectal cancer. What contributes to the low adherence to getting a colonoscopy among the eligible population is that some find it inconvenient, and the test is invasive, she added.

According to Dr. May, the key advantage of cfDNA-based screening is that many people will find it easier to complete a blood test than the currently available screening tests.

“This option may allow us to screen individuals that we have previously struggled to convince to get screened for colorectal cancer,” she said.

In an interview, Dr. Issaka acknowledged that the potential public health impact of any noninvasive screening test depends on how many people with abnormal results complete a follow-up colonoscopy. “This is an important quality metric to track,” she said.

In an interview, Dr. Issaka emphasized that comparing this cfDNA blood test with emerging blood tests and other noninvasive screening strategies will empower patients and clinicians to select the right test at the right time for the right patient.

She added that the study was conducted in an average-risk screening population and that further research is needed to evaluate the test’s performance in higher-risk groups and to assess its real-world impact on screening adherence and colorectal cancer-related outcomes.

Commenting on potential challenges with implementing this cfDNA blood test in clinical practice, Dr. May said, “As we consider incorporating blood-based tests into clinical practice, some challenges include cost, equitable access to tests and follow-up, performance in young adults who are newly eligible for screening, and follow-up after abnormal results.”

She added that, if there is uptake of these tests, it will be important to track how that impacts colorectal cancer screening rates, stage at diagnosis, and whether there is stage migration, incidence, and mortality.

“At this time, I feel that these tests are appropriate for individuals who will not or cannot participate in one of the currently recommended screening tests. These include colonoscopy and stool-based tests, like FIT and FIT-DNA,” Dr. May concluded.

Dr. Issaka reported financial relationships with the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, American College of Gastroenterology, and Guardant Health Inc. Dr. May reported financial relationships with Takeda, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Saint Supply, Exact Sciences, Freenome, Geneoscopy, Guardant Health, InterVenn, Natura, National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, Veterans Affairs HSR&D, Broad Institute, Stand up to Cancer, and NRG Oncology.

SAN DIEGO — A new cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-based blood test shows promising performance in detecting colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous lesions, say the authors of new research.

Rachel B. Issaka, MD, MAS, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, presented the clinical data, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.

Issaka_Rachel_WASH_web.jpg

The authors of the study evaluated the performance of a cfDNA blood-based test in a population eligible for colorectal cancer screening. The researchers found that the test had high sensitivity for the detection of colorectal cancer and high specificity for advanced precancerous lesions.

This novel blood test could improve screening adherence and, ultimately, reduce colorectal cancer-related mortality, Dr. Issaka said during her presentation.

“This test has the potential to help us reach the 80% screening target in colorectal cancer. However, this will depend on many factors, including access, implementation, follow-up colonoscopy, and characteristics of the test,” Dr. Issaka said in an interview.

She added that, when approved for broader use, anyone who wants to use this blood test for colorectal cancer screening should have a frank conversation with their healthcare provider.

“Considering the person’s age, medical history, family history, and any potential symptoms, and how the test performs will dictate if it’s the right test for that person versus another screening strategy,” Dr. Issaka explained.
 

The Blood Test Detects Colorectal Cancer With High Accuracy

The investigators of the observational ECLIPSE trial evaluated the performance of the cfDNA-based blood test in 7861 individuals who were eligible for colorectal cancer screening. The study population included people from more than 200 rural and urban sites across 34 states, including community hospitals, private practices, gastroenterology clinics, and academic centers. “The study enrolled a diverse cohort that is reflective of the demographics of the intended use population in the US,” Dr. Issaka said during her talk.

The co-primary outcomes of the study were the test’s sensitivity for detecting colorectal cancer and its specificity for identifying advanced neoplasia.

In her presentation, Dr. Issaka highlighted that the test had 83.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 72.2%-90.3%) sensitivity for the detection of colorectal cancer, meaning that it was able to correctly identify most participants with the disease. The test’s sensitivity was even higher (87.5%; 95% CI, 75.3%-94.1%) for stage I, II, or III colorectal cancer. “These are the stages at which early intervention can have the greatest impact on patient prognosis,” Dr. Issaka said.

Moreover, the blood test showed 89.6% (95% CI, 88.8%-90.3%) specificity for advanced neoplasia, including colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous lesions. The specificity of the test for negative colonoscopy results (no colorectal cancer, advanced precancerous lesions, or nonadvanced precancerous lesions) was 89.9% (95% CI, 89.0%-90.7%).

Dr. Issaka highlighted that this cfDNA assay is the first blood-based test with performance comparable to current guideline-recommended noninvasive options for CRC.
 

The Blood Test Shows Limited Ability To Detect Advanced Precancerous Lesions

During her presentation, Dr. Issaka acknowledged that the cfDNA-based blood test had a lower sensitivity (13.2%; 95% CI, 11.3%-15.3%) for the detection of advanced precancerous lesions, suggesting that it may be more effective at identifying established cancers than early-stage precancerous changes. Low sensitivity was also observed for high-grade dysplasia (22.6%; 95% CI, 11.4%-39.8%). However, she emphasized that the test could still play a valuable role in a comprehensive screening approach, potentially serving as a first-line tool to identify individuals who would then undergo follow-up colonoscopy.

“Although blood-based tests perform well at finding cancers, they do not do so well at finding precancerous polyps. This is relevant because colorectal cancer is one of the few cancers that we can prevent by finding and removing precancerous polyps,” Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, said in an interview.

“Users must also understand that if the test result is abnormal, a colonoscopy is required to look for cancers and polyps that might have caused the abnormal result,” added Dr. May, associate professor at UCLA. She was not involved in the study.
 

Clinical Implications and Future Steps

According to the study published in the NEJM, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, and early detection is crucial for effective treatment. However, over a third of eligible individuals are not up to date with recommended screening.

During her talk, Dr. Issaka noted that colonoscopy is the most commonly used screening method for colorectal cancer. What contributes to the low adherence to getting a colonoscopy among the eligible population is that some find it inconvenient, and the test is invasive, she added.

According to Dr. May, the key advantage of cfDNA-based screening is that many people will find it easier to complete a blood test than the currently available screening tests.

“This option may allow us to screen individuals that we have previously struggled to convince to get screened for colorectal cancer,” she said.

In an interview, Dr. Issaka acknowledged that the potential public health impact of any noninvasive screening test depends on how many people with abnormal results complete a follow-up colonoscopy. “This is an important quality metric to track,” she said.

In an interview, Dr. Issaka emphasized that comparing this cfDNA blood test with emerging blood tests and other noninvasive screening strategies will empower patients and clinicians to select the right test at the right time for the right patient.

She added that the study was conducted in an average-risk screening population and that further research is needed to evaluate the test’s performance in higher-risk groups and to assess its real-world impact on screening adherence and colorectal cancer-related outcomes.

Commenting on potential challenges with implementing this cfDNA blood test in clinical practice, Dr. May said, “As we consider incorporating blood-based tests into clinical practice, some challenges include cost, equitable access to tests and follow-up, performance in young adults who are newly eligible for screening, and follow-up after abnormal results.”

She added that, if there is uptake of these tests, it will be important to track how that impacts colorectal cancer screening rates, stage at diagnosis, and whether there is stage migration, incidence, and mortality.

“At this time, I feel that these tests are appropriate for individuals who will not or cannot participate in one of the currently recommended screening tests. These include colonoscopy and stool-based tests, like FIT and FIT-DNA,” Dr. May concluded.

Dr. Issaka reported financial relationships with the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, American College of Gastroenterology, and Guardant Health Inc. Dr. May reported financial relationships with Takeda, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Saint Supply, Exact Sciences, Freenome, Geneoscopy, Guardant Health, InterVenn, Natura, National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, Veterans Affairs HSR&D, Broad Institute, Stand up to Cancer, and NRG Oncology.

SAN DIEGO — A new cell-free DNA (cfDNA)-based blood test shows promising performance in detecting colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous lesions, say the authors of new research.

Rachel B. Issaka, MD, MAS, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, presented the clinical data, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.

Issaka_Rachel_WASH_web.jpg

The authors of the study evaluated the performance of a cfDNA blood-based test in a population eligible for colorectal cancer screening. The researchers found that the test had high sensitivity for the detection of colorectal cancer and high specificity for advanced precancerous lesions.

This novel blood test could improve screening adherence and, ultimately, reduce colorectal cancer-related mortality, Dr. Issaka said during her presentation.

“This test has the potential to help us reach the 80% screening target in colorectal cancer. However, this will depend on many factors, including access, implementation, follow-up colonoscopy, and characteristics of the test,” Dr. Issaka said in an interview.

She added that, when approved for broader use, anyone who wants to use this blood test for colorectal cancer screening should have a frank conversation with their healthcare provider.

“Considering the person’s age, medical history, family history, and any potential symptoms, and how the test performs will dictate if it’s the right test for that person versus another screening strategy,” Dr. Issaka explained.
 

The Blood Test Detects Colorectal Cancer With High Accuracy

The investigators of the observational ECLIPSE trial evaluated the performance of the cfDNA-based blood test in 7861 individuals who were eligible for colorectal cancer screening. The study population included people from more than 200 rural and urban sites across 34 states, including community hospitals, private practices, gastroenterology clinics, and academic centers. “The study enrolled a diverse cohort that is reflective of the demographics of the intended use population in the US,” Dr. Issaka said during her talk.

The co-primary outcomes of the study were the test’s sensitivity for detecting colorectal cancer and its specificity for identifying advanced neoplasia.

In her presentation, Dr. Issaka highlighted that the test had 83.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 72.2%-90.3%) sensitivity for the detection of colorectal cancer, meaning that it was able to correctly identify most participants with the disease. The test’s sensitivity was even higher (87.5%; 95% CI, 75.3%-94.1%) for stage I, II, or III colorectal cancer. “These are the stages at which early intervention can have the greatest impact on patient prognosis,” Dr. Issaka said.

Moreover, the blood test showed 89.6% (95% CI, 88.8%-90.3%) specificity for advanced neoplasia, including colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous lesions. The specificity of the test for negative colonoscopy results (no colorectal cancer, advanced precancerous lesions, or nonadvanced precancerous lesions) was 89.9% (95% CI, 89.0%-90.7%).

Dr. Issaka highlighted that this cfDNA assay is the first blood-based test with performance comparable to current guideline-recommended noninvasive options for CRC.
 

The Blood Test Shows Limited Ability To Detect Advanced Precancerous Lesions

During her presentation, Dr. Issaka acknowledged that the cfDNA-based blood test had a lower sensitivity (13.2%; 95% CI, 11.3%-15.3%) for the detection of advanced precancerous lesions, suggesting that it may be more effective at identifying established cancers than early-stage precancerous changes. Low sensitivity was also observed for high-grade dysplasia (22.6%; 95% CI, 11.4%-39.8%). However, she emphasized that the test could still play a valuable role in a comprehensive screening approach, potentially serving as a first-line tool to identify individuals who would then undergo follow-up colonoscopy.

“Although blood-based tests perform well at finding cancers, they do not do so well at finding precancerous polyps. This is relevant because colorectal cancer is one of the few cancers that we can prevent by finding and removing precancerous polyps,” Folasade P. May, MD, PhD, MPhil, said in an interview.

“Users must also understand that if the test result is abnormal, a colonoscopy is required to look for cancers and polyps that might have caused the abnormal result,” added Dr. May, associate professor at UCLA. She was not involved in the study.
 

Clinical Implications and Future Steps

According to the study published in the NEJM, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, and early detection is crucial for effective treatment. However, over a third of eligible individuals are not up to date with recommended screening.

During her talk, Dr. Issaka noted that colonoscopy is the most commonly used screening method for colorectal cancer. What contributes to the low adherence to getting a colonoscopy among the eligible population is that some find it inconvenient, and the test is invasive, she added.

According to Dr. May, the key advantage of cfDNA-based screening is that many people will find it easier to complete a blood test than the currently available screening tests.

“This option may allow us to screen individuals that we have previously struggled to convince to get screened for colorectal cancer,” she said.

In an interview, Dr. Issaka acknowledged that the potential public health impact of any noninvasive screening test depends on how many people with abnormal results complete a follow-up colonoscopy. “This is an important quality metric to track,” she said.

In an interview, Dr. Issaka emphasized that comparing this cfDNA blood test with emerging blood tests and other noninvasive screening strategies will empower patients and clinicians to select the right test at the right time for the right patient.

She added that the study was conducted in an average-risk screening population and that further research is needed to evaluate the test’s performance in higher-risk groups and to assess its real-world impact on screening adherence and colorectal cancer-related outcomes.

Commenting on potential challenges with implementing this cfDNA blood test in clinical practice, Dr. May said, “As we consider incorporating blood-based tests into clinical practice, some challenges include cost, equitable access to tests and follow-up, performance in young adults who are newly eligible for screening, and follow-up after abnormal results.”

She added that, if there is uptake of these tests, it will be important to track how that impacts colorectal cancer screening rates, stage at diagnosis, and whether there is stage migration, incidence, and mortality.

“At this time, I feel that these tests are appropriate for individuals who will not or cannot participate in one of the currently recommended screening tests. These include colonoscopy and stool-based tests, like FIT and FIT-DNA,” Dr. May concluded.

Dr. Issaka reported financial relationships with the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, American College of Gastroenterology, and Guardant Health Inc. Dr. May reported financial relationships with Takeda, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Saint Supply, Exact Sciences, Freenome, Geneoscopy, Guardant Health, InterVenn, Natura, National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, Veterans Affairs HSR&D, Broad Institute, Stand up to Cancer, and NRG Oncology.

TOPLINE:

A comprehensive model considering patient age, diabetes, colonoscopy indications, and polyp findings can predict colorectal cancer (CRC) risk more accurately than the solely polyp-based model in patients with a first diagnosis of adenoma on colonoscopy.

METHODOLOGY:

• Because colonoscopy surveillance guidelines relying solely on previous polyp findings to assess CRC risk are imprecise, researchers developed and tested a comprehensive risk prediction model from a list of CRC-related predictors that included patient characteristics and clinical factors in addition to polyp findings.
• The comprehensive model included baseline colonoscopy indication, age group, diabetes diagnosis, and polyp findings (adenoma with advanced histology, polyp size ≥ 10 mm, and sessile serrated or traditional serrated adenoma).
• They randomly assigned 95,001 patients (mean age, 61.9 years; 45.5% women) who underwent colonoscopy with polypectomy to remove a conventional adenoma into two cohorts: Model development (66,500) and internal validation (28,501).
• In both cohorts, researchers compared the performance of the polyp findings-only method against the comprehensive model in predicting CRC, defined as an adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum diagnosed a year after the baseline colonoscopy.

TAKEAWAY:

• During the follow-up period starting 1 year after colonoscopy, 495 patients were diagnosed with CRC; 354 were in the development cohort and 141 were in the validation cohort.
• The comprehensive model demonstrated better predictive performance than the traditional polyp-based model in the development cohort (area under the curve [AUC], 0.71 vs 0.61) and in the validation cohort (AUC, 0.7 vs 0.62).
• The difference in the Akaike Information Criterion values between the comprehensive and polyp models was 45.7, much above the threshold of 10, strongly indicating the superior performance of the comprehensive model.

IN PRACTICE:

“Improving the ability to accurately predict the patients at highest risk for CRC after polypectomy is critically important, given the considerable costs and resources associated with treating CRC and the better prognosis associated with early cancer detection. The current findings provide proof of concept that inclusion of CRC risk factors beyond prior polyp findings has the potential to improve post-colonoscopy risk stratification,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study, led by Jeffrey K. Lee, MD, MPH, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, was published online in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

External validation of the model’s performance is needed in different practice settings. The generalizability of the findings is limited because the study population did not include individuals without a prior adenoma or those with an isolated serrated polyp. Moreover, the examination of polyp size > 20 mm as a potential predictor of CRC was precluded due to incomplete data.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was conducted within the National Cancer Institute–funded Population-Based Research to Optimize the Screening Process II consortium and funded by a career development grant from the National Cancer Institute to Lee. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

A comprehensive model considering patient age, diabetes, colonoscopy indications, and polyp findings can predict colorectal cancer (CRC) risk more accurately than the solely polyp-based model in patients with a first diagnosis of adenoma on colonoscopy.

METHODOLOGY:

• Because colonoscopy surveillance guidelines relying solely on previous polyp findings to assess CRC risk are imprecise, researchers developed and tested a comprehensive risk prediction model from a list of CRC-related predictors that included patient characteristics and clinical factors in addition to polyp findings.
• The comprehensive model included baseline colonoscopy indication, age group, diabetes diagnosis, and polyp findings (adenoma with advanced histology, polyp size ≥ 10 mm, and sessile serrated or traditional serrated adenoma).
• They randomly assigned 95,001 patients (mean age, 61.9 years; 45.5% women) who underwent colonoscopy with polypectomy to remove a conventional adenoma into two cohorts: Model development (66,500) and internal validation (28,501).
• In both cohorts, researchers compared the performance of the polyp findings-only method against the comprehensive model in predicting CRC, defined as an adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum diagnosed a year after the baseline colonoscopy.

TAKEAWAY:

• During the follow-up period starting 1 year after colonoscopy, 495 patients were diagnosed with CRC; 354 were in the development cohort and 141 were in the validation cohort.
• The comprehensive model demonstrated better predictive performance than the traditional polyp-based model in the development cohort (area under the curve [AUC], 0.71 vs 0.61) and in the validation cohort (AUC, 0.7 vs 0.62).
• The difference in the Akaike Information Criterion values between the comprehensive and polyp models was 45.7, much above the threshold of 10, strongly indicating the superior performance of the comprehensive model.

IN PRACTICE:

“Improving the ability to accurately predict the patients at highest risk for CRC after polypectomy is critically important, given the considerable costs and resources associated with treating CRC and the better prognosis associated with early cancer detection. The current findings provide proof of concept that inclusion of CRC risk factors beyond prior polyp findings has the potential to improve post-colonoscopy risk stratification,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study, led by Jeffrey K. Lee, MD, MPH, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, was published online in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

External validation of the model’s performance is needed in different practice settings. The generalizability of the findings is limited because the study population did not include individuals without a prior adenoma or those with an isolated serrated polyp. Moreover, the examination of polyp size > 20 mm as a potential predictor of CRC was precluded due to incomplete data.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was conducted within the National Cancer Institute–funded Population-Based Research to Optimize the Screening Process II consortium and funded by a career development grant from the National Cancer Institute to Lee. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

A comprehensive model considering patient age, diabetes, colonoscopy indications, and polyp findings can predict colorectal cancer (CRC) risk more accurately than the solely polyp-based model in patients with a first diagnosis of adenoma on colonoscopy.

METHODOLOGY:

• Because colonoscopy surveillance guidelines relying solely on previous polyp findings to assess CRC risk are imprecise, researchers developed and tested a comprehensive risk prediction model from a list of CRC-related predictors that included patient characteristics and clinical factors in addition to polyp findings.
• The comprehensive model included baseline colonoscopy indication, age group, diabetes diagnosis, and polyp findings (adenoma with advanced histology, polyp size ≥ 10 mm, and sessile serrated or traditional serrated adenoma).
• They randomly assigned 95,001 patients (mean age, 61.9 years; 45.5% women) who underwent colonoscopy with polypectomy to remove a conventional adenoma into two cohorts: Model development (66,500) and internal validation (28,501).
• In both cohorts, researchers compared the performance of the polyp findings-only method against the comprehensive model in predicting CRC, defined as an adenocarcinoma of the colon or rectum diagnosed a year after the baseline colonoscopy.

TAKEAWAY:

• During the follow-up period starting 1 year after colonoscopy, 495 patients were diagnosed with CRC; 354 were in the development cohort and 141 were in the validation cohort.
• The comprehensive model demonstrated better predictive performance than the traditional polyp-based model in the development cohort (area under the curve [AUC], 0.71 vs 0.61) and in the validation cohort (AUC, 0.7 vs 0.62).
• The difference in the Akaike Information Criterion values between the comprehensive and polyp models was 45.7, much above the threshold of 10, strongly indicating the superior performance of the comprehensive model.

IN PRACTICE:

“Improving the ability to accurately predict the patients at highest risk for CRC after polypectomy is critically important, given the considerable costs and resources associated with treating CRC and the better prognosis associated with early cancer detection. The current findings provide proof of concept that inclusion of CRC risk factors beyond prior polyp findings has the potential to improve post-colonoscopy risk stratification,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study, led by Jeffrey K. Lee, MD, MPH, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California, was published online in The American Journal of Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

External validation of the model’s performance is needed in different practice settings. The generalizability of the findings is limited because the study population did not include individuals without a prior adenoma or those with an isolated serrated polyp. Moreover, the examination of polyp size > 20 mm as a potential predictor of CRC was precluded due to incomplete data.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was conducted within the National Cancer Institute–funded Population-Based Research to Optimize the Screening Process II consortium and funded by a career development grant from the National Cancer Institute to Lee. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Bariatric surgery appears to decrease the risk for some cancers, but it may increase the risk for others, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a synthesis of current evidence.

“There has been a recent burst of studies examining the association between bariatric surgery and the longitudinal risks of developing cancer,” corresponding author Zhi Ven Fong, MD, MPH, DrPH, surgical oncologist, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, said in an interview. “However, there has not been a rigorous and critical analysis of the data published to date.”

In evaluating research showing an association between bariatric surgery and longitudinal cancer risk, the investigators found that the quality of the studies and their findings are “heterogeneous and might be susceptible to bias,” Dr. Fong said.

Bariatric surgery appears to have the strongest and most consistent association with the reduction of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer risk, first author Pei-Wen Lim, MD, MS, bariatric surgeon at Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, told this news organization. “However, there have been concerning signals from preclinical and epidemiological studies that bariatric surgery may be associated with a higher risk of developing colorectal cancers,” she added.

The authors cautioned against certain changes in clinical management.

“First, cancer surveillance frequency should not be altered after bariatric surgery because of any assumed reduction in longitudinal cancer risk, and surveillance strategy should mirror that of an average-risk individual,” they wrote. “Secondly, the indications for bariatric surgery should not be expanded for the purpose of cancer-risk mitigation.”

The review was published online in JAMA Surgery.
 

Protection Against Hormone-Related Cancers

The authors pointed to several studies that appear to support the association between bariatric surgery and decreased risk for hormone-related cancers.

Among them is an observational study of 6781 patients in Canada that showed a significant reduction in breast cancer risk at a median follow-up of 5 years in those who had bariatric surgery vs those who did not (P = .01).

The largest study to date on risk for hormone-related cancer after bariatric surgery was conducted using New York State data for 302,883 women.

It showed a lower rate of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers after bariatric surgery (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; P < .001), with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass conferring the greatest benefit compared with laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (HR, 0.66; P = .006) and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (HR, 0.83; P = .006).

Beyond the shared mechanisms explaining obesity and cancer risk, a proposed explanation for the strong, consistent association between bariatric surgery and hormone-sensitive cancers is the role obesity-related changes in estrogen stimulation play in development of such cancers, the authors noted.
 

Association With GI Cancers

The association between bariatric surgery and development of esophageal, gastric, liver, and pancreas cancers is less clear. The data are heterogeneous, with studies showing either no association or decreased longitudinal incidence, the authors reported.

The data are also mixed when it comes to CRC. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated decreased longitudinal incidence of colon and rectal cancer after bariatric surgery; however, two studies have suggested an increased CRC risk after bariatric surgery, the authors noted.

A 15-year study from England that matched 8794 patients with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery with 8794 patients with obesity who did not have the surgery showed that gastric bypass (but not gastric banding or sleeve gastrectomy) was associated with a greater than twofold increased risk of developing colon and rectal cancer (odds ratio, 2.63).

These findings were corroborated in a Swedish cohort study with more than 10 years of follow-up data.

One potential explanation for the heterogeneous findings is that “present studies do not discriminate the sub-types of colon and rectal cancer, with bariatric surgery possibly increasing the incidence of colitis-associated cancers but not hereditary cancers,” the authors wrote.

“The mechanism by which gastric bypass may increase the risk of colorectal cancer is through changes in the gut’s microbiome. These changes in gut flora may triumph the protective effect of weight loss on the development of colorectal cancers,” Dr. Fong said.

Prospective studies are necessary to better delineate CRC risk after bariatric surgery, the authors wrote.
 

Benefits Outweigh Risk

“Ultimately, it has been proven that bariatric surgery saves lives by improving the metabolic profile of patients with obesity through reduction in cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,” Dr. Lim said.

“If patients qualify for bariatric surgery on the basis of their BMI or comorbidities, they should pursue it for its metabolic benefits, but perhaps consider timely or closer-interval screening colonoscopies to monitor for potential colorectal cancer development,” Dr. Lim added.

When asked to comment on the review, Marina Kurian, MD, president, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, also pointed to the advantages of bariatric surgery in reducing major adverse cardiovascular events and improving hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.

Bariatric surgery reduces many types of cancers, although the data specific to CRC risk with bariatric surgery are mixed, she added.

“The jury is still out,” said Dr. Kurian, clinical professor of surgery at NYU Langone Health in New York, who was not involved in the review. “There are papers and meta-analyses that show benefit even in colorectal cancer, but then there are a couple of papers out there that suggest a risk that seems to be specific to men.

“It could just be a numbers game, where we may not have enough data. We need more granular data that will help address these nuances and really determine what is the actual risk,” Dr. Kurian said. “But overall, for cancer, bariatric surgery is a win.”

This research had no specific funding. Dr. Fong and Dr. Lim had no relevant disclosures. Dr. Kurian disclosed relationships with Allergan, Allurion, CineMed, CSATS, Ezisurg Medical, Hernon, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Novo, Stryker, and Vivus.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Bariatric surgery appears to decrease the risk for some cancers, but it may increase the risk for others, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a synthesis of current evidence.

“There has been a recent burst of studies examining the association between bariatric surgery and the longitudinal risks of developing cancer,” corresponding author Zhi Ven Fong, MD, MPH, DrPH, surgical oncologist, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, said in an interview. “However, there has not been a rigorous and critical analysis of the data published to date.”

In evaluating research showing an association between bariatric surgery and longitudinal cancer risk, the investigators found that the quality of the studies and their findings are “heterogeneous and might be susceptible to bias,” Dr. Fong said.

Bariatric surgery appears to have the strongest and most consistent association with the reduction of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer risk, first author Pei-Wen Lim, MD, MS, bariatric surgeon at Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, told this news organization. “However, there have been concerning signals from preclinical and epidemiological studies that bariatric surgery may be associated with a higher risk of developing colorectal cancers,” she added.

The authors cautioned against certain changes in clinical management.

“First, cancer surveillance frequency should not be altered after bariatric surgery because of any assumed reduction in longitudinal cancer risk, and surveillance strategy should mirror that of an average-risk individual,” they wrote. “Secondly, the indications for bariatric surgery should not be expanded for the purpose of cancer-risk mitigation.”

The review was published online in JAMA Surgery.
 

Protection Against Hormone-Related Cancers

The authors pointed to several studies that appear to support the association between bariatric surgery and decreased risk for hormone-related cancers.

Among them is an observational study of 6781 patients in Canada that showed a significant reduction in breast cancer risk at a median follow-up of 5 years in those who had bariatric surgery vs those who did not (P = .01).

The largest study to date on risk for hormone-related cancer after bariatric surgery was conducted using New York State data for 302,883 women.

It showed a lower rate of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers after bariatric surgery (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; P < .001), with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass conferring the greatest benefit compared with laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (HR, 0.66; P = .006) and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (HR, 0.83; P = .006).

Beyond the shared mechanisms explaining obesity and cancer risk, a proposed explanation for the strong, consistent association between bariatric surgery and hormone-sensitive cancers is the role obesity-related changes in estrogen stimulation play in development of such cancers, the authors noted.
 

Association With GI Cancers

The association between bariatric surgery and development of esophageal, gastric, liver, and pancreas cancers is less clear. The data are heterogeneous, with studies showing either no association or decreased longitudinal incidence, the authors reported.

The data are also mixed when it comes to CRC. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated decreased longitudinal incidence of colon and rectal cancer after bariatric surgery; however, two studies have suggested an increased CRC risk after bariatric surgery, the authors noted.

A 15-year study from England that matched 8794 patients with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery with 8794 patients with obesity who did not have the surgery showed that gastric bypass (but not gastric banding or sleeve gastrectomy) was associated with a greater than twofold increased risk of developing colon and rectal cancer (odds ratio, 2.63).

These findings were corroborated in a Swedish cohort study with more than 10 years of follow-up data.

One potential explanation for the heterogeneous findings is that “present studies do not discriminate the sub-types of colon and rectal cancer, with bariatric surgery possibly increasing the incidence of colitis-associated cancers but not hereditary cancers,” the authors wrote.

“The mechanism by which gastric bypass may increase the risk of colorectal cancer is through changes in the gut’s microbiome. These changes in gut flora may triumph the protective effect of weight loss on the development of colorectal cancers,” Dr. Fong said.

Prospective studies are necessary to better delineate CRC risk after bariatric surgery, the authors wrote.
 

Benefits Outweigh Risk

“Ultimately, it has been proven that bariatric surgery saves lives by improving the metabolic profile of patients with obesity through reduction in cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,” Dr. Lim said.

“If patients qualify for bariatric surgery on the basis of their BMI or comorbidities, they should pursue it for its metabolic benefits, but perhaps consider timely or closer-interval screening colonoscopies to monitor for potential colorectal cancer development,” Dr. Lim added.

When asked to comment on the review, Marina Kurian, MD, president, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, also pointed to the advantages of bariatric surgery in reducing major adverse cardiovascular events and improving hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.

Bariatric surgery reduces many types of cancers, although the data specific to CRC risk with bariatric surgery are mixed, she added.

“The jury is still out,” said Dr. Kurian, clinical professor of surgery at NYU Langone Health in New York, who was not involved in the review. “There are papers and meta-analyses that show benefit even in colorectal cancer, but then there are a couple of papers out there that suggest a risk that seems to be specific to men.

“It could just be a numbers game, where we may not have enough data. We need more granular data that will help address these nuances and really determine what is the actual risk,” Dr. Kurian said. “But overall, for cancer, bariatric surgery is a win.”

This research had no specific funding. Dr. Fong and Dr. Lim had no relevant disclosures. Dr. Kurian disclosed relationships with Allergan, Allurion, CineMed, CSATS, Ezisurg Medical, Hernon, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Novo, Stryker, and Vivus.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Bariatric surgery appears to decrease the risk for some cancers, but it may increase the risk for others, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a synthesis of current evidence.

“There has been a recent burst of studies examining the association between bariatric surgery and the longitudinal risks of developing cancer,” corresponding author Zhi Ven Fong, MD, MPH, DrPH, surgical oncologist, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, said in an interview. “However, there has not been a rigorous and critical analysis of the data published to date.”

In evaluating research showing an association between bariatric surgery and longitudinal cancer risk, the investigators found that the quality of the studies and their findings are “heterogeneous and might be susceptible to bias,” Dr. Fong said.

Bariatric surgery appears to have the strongest and most consistent association with the reduction of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer risk, first author Pei-Wen Lim, MD, MS, bariatric surgeon at Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, told this news organization. “However, there have been concerning signals from preclinical and epidemiological studies that bariatric surgery may be associated with a higher risk of developing colorectal cancers,” she added.

The authors cautioned against certain changes in clinical management.

“First, cancer surveillance frequency should not be altered after bariatric surgery because of any assumed reduction in longitudinal cancer risk, and surveillance strategy should mirror that of an average-risk individual,” they wrote. “Secondly, the indications for bariatric surgery should not be expanded for the purpose of cancer-risk mitigation.”

The review was published online in JAMA Surgery.
 

Protection Against Hormone-Related Cancers

The authors pointed to several studies that appear to support the association between bariatric surgery and decreased risk for hormone-related cancers.

Among them is an observational study of 6781 patients in Canada that showed a significant reduction in breast cancer risk at a median follow-up of 5 years in those who had bariatric surgery vs those who did not (P = .01).

The largest study to date on risk for hormone-related cancer after bariatric surgery was conducted using New York State data for 302,883 women.

It showed a lower rate of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers after bariatric surgery (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; P < .001), with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass conferring the greatest benefit compared with laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (HR, 0.66; P = .006) and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (HR, 0.83; P = .006).

Beyond the shared mechanisms explaining obesity and cancer risk, a proposed explanation for the strong, consistent association between bariatric surgery and hormone-sensitive cancers is the role obesity-related changes in estrogen stimulation play in development of such cancers, the authors noted.
 

Association With GI Cancers

The association between bariatric surgery and development of esophageal, gastric, liver, and pancreas cancers is less clear. The data are heterogeneous, with studies showing either no association or decreased longitudinal incidence, the authors reported.

The data are also mixed when it comes to CRC. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated decreased longitudinal incidence of colon and rectal cancer after bariatric surgery; however, two studies have suggested an increased CRC risk after bariatric surgery, the authors noted.

A 15-year study from England that matched 8794 patients with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery with 8794 patients with obesity who did not have the surgery showed that gastric bypass (but not gastric banding or sleeve gastrectomy) was associated with a greater than twofold increased risk of developing colon and rectal cancer (odds ratio, 2.63).

These findings were corroborated in a Swedish cohort study with more than 10 years of follow-up data.

One potential explanation for the heterogeneous findings is that “present studies do not discriminate the sub-types of colon and rectal cancer, with bariatric surgery possibly increasing the incidence of colitis-associated cancers but not hereditary cancers,” the authors wrote.

“The mechanism by which gastric bypass may increase the risk of colorectal cancer is through changes in the gut’s microbiome. These changes in gut flora may triumph the protective effect of weight loss on the development of colorectal cancers,” Dr. Fong said.

Prospective studies are necessary to better delineate CRC risk after bariatric surgery, the authors wrote.
 

Benefits Outweigh Risk

“Ultimately, it has been proven that bariatric surgery saves lives by improving the metabolic profile of patients with obesity through reduction in cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,” Dr. Lim said.

“If patients qualify for bariatric surgery on the basis of their BMI or comorbidities, they should pursue it for its metabolic benefits, but perhaps consider timely or closer-interval screening colonoscopies to monitor for potential colorectal cancer development,” Dr. Lim added.

When asked to comment on the review, Marina Kurian, MD, president, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, also pointed to the advantages of bariatric surgery in reducing major adverse cardiovascular events and improving hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.

Bariatric surgery reduces many types of cancers, although the data specific to CRC risk with bariatric surgery are mixed, she added.

“The jury is still out,” said Dr. Kurian, clinical professor of surgery at NYU Langone Health in New York, who was not involved in the review. “There are papers and meta-analyses that show benefit even in colorectal cancer, but then there are a couple of papers out there that suggest a risk that seems to be specific to men.

“It could just be a numbers game, where we may not have enough data. We need more granular data that will help address these nuances and really determine what is the actual risk,” Dr. Kurian said. “But overall, for cancer, bariatric surgery is a win.”

This research had no specific funding. Dr. Fong and Dr. Lim had no relevant disclosures. Dr. Kurian disclosed relationships with Allergan, Allurion, CineMed, CSATS, Ezisurg Medical, Hernon, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Novo, Stryker, and Vivus.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

The American Cancer Society has just published its cancer statistics for 2024. This is an annual report, the latest version of which has some alarming news for gastroenterologists. Usually, we think of being “number one” as a positive thing, but that’s not the case this year when it comes to the projections for colorectal cancer.

But first, let’s discuss the report’s overall findings. Broadly speaking, the news is quite good in that there’s been an aversion of over 4 million deaths since 1991. That decline over the past four decades is due to reductions in smoking, earlier detection, and improved screening and treatments for localized or metastatic disease. But these gains are now threatened by some offsets that we’re seeing, with increasing rates of six of the top 10 cancers in the past several years.
 

Increasing Rates of Gastrointestinal Cancers

The incidence rate of pancreas cancer has increased from 0.6% to 1% annually.

Pancreas cancer has a 5-year relative survival rate of 13%, which ranks as one of the three worst rates for cancers. This cancer represents a real screening challenge for us, as it typically presents asymptomatically.

Women have experienced a 2%-3% annual increase in incidence rates for liver cancer.

I suspect that this is due to cases of fibrotic liver disease resulting from viral hepatitis and metabolic liver diseases with nonalcoholic fatty liver and advanced fibrosis (F3 and F4). These cases may be carried over from before, thereby contributing to the increasing incremental cancer risk.

We can’t overlook the need for risk reduction here and should focus on applying regular screening efforts in our female patients. However, it’s also true that we require better liver cancer screening tests to accomplish that goal.
 

In Those Under 50, CRC the Leading Cause of Cancer Death in Men, Second in Women

I really want to focus on the news around colorectal cancer.

To put this in perspective, in the late 1990s, colorectal cancer was the fourth leading cause of death in men and women. The current report extrapolated 2024 projections using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database ending in 2020, which was necessary given the incremental time it takes to develop cancers. The SEER database suggests that in 2024, colorectal cancer in those younger than 50 years of age will become the number-one leading cause of cancer death in men and number-two in women. The increasing incidence of colorectal cancer in younger people is probably the result of a number of epidemiologic and other reasons.

The current report offers evidence of racial disparities in cancer mortality rates in general, which are twofold higher in Black people compared with White people, particularly for gastric cancer. There is also an evident disparity in Native Americans, who have higher rates of gastric and liver cancer. This is a reminder of the increasing need for equity to address racial disparities across these populations.

But returning to colon cancer, it’s a marked change to go from being the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in those younger than 50 years of age to being number one for men and number two for women.

Being “number one” is supposed to make you famous. This “number one,” however, should in fact be infamous. It’s a travesty, because colorectal cancer is a potentially preventable disease.

As we move into March, which happens to be Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, hopefully this fires up some of the conversations you have with your younger at-risk population, who may be reticent or resistant to colorectal cancer screening.

We have to do better at getting this message out to that population at large. “Number one” is not where we want to be for this potentially preventable problem.
 

Dr. Johnson is professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, and a past president of the American College of Gastroenterology. His primary focus is the clinical practice of gastroenterology. He has published extensively in the internal medicine/gastroenterology literature, with principal research interests in esophageal and colon disease, and more recently in sleep and microbiome effects on gastrointestinal health and disease. He has disclosed ties with ISOTHRIVE and Johnson & Johnson.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

The American Cancer Society has just published its cancer statistics for 2024. This is an annual report, the latest version of which has some alarming news for gastroenterologists. Usually, we think of being “number one” as a positive thing, but that’s not the case this year when it comes to the projections for colorectal cancer.

But first, let’s discuss the report’s overall findings. Broadly speaking, the news is quite good in that there’s been an aversion of over 4 million deaths since 1991. That decline over the past four decades is due to reductions in smoking, earlier detection, and improved screening and treatments for localized or metastatic disease. But these gains are now threatened by some offsets that we’re seeing, with increasing rates of six of the top 10 cancers in the past several years.
 

Increasing Rates of Gastrointestinal Cancers

The incidence rate of pancreas cancer has increased from 0.6% to 1% annually.

Pancreas cancer has a 5-year relative survival rate of 13%, which ranks as one of the three worst rates for cancers. This cancer represents a real screening challenge for us, as it typically presents asymptomatically.

Women have experienced a 2%-3% annual increase in incidence rates for liver cancer.

I suspect that this is due to cases of fibrotic liver disease resulting from viral hepatitis and metabolic liver diseases with nonalcoholic fatty liver and advanced fibrosis (F3 and F4). These cases may be carried over from before, thereby contributing to the increasing incremental cancer risk.

We can’t overlook the need for risk reduction here and should focus on applying regular screening efforts in our female patients. However, it’s also true that we require better liver cancer screening tests to accomplish that goal.
 

In Those Under 50, CRC the Leading Cause of Cancer Death in Men, Second in Women

I really want to focus on the news around colorectal cancer.

To put this in perspective, in the late 1990s, colorectal cancer was the fourth leading cause of death in men and women. The current report extrapolated 2024 projections using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database ending in 2020, which was necessary given the incremental time it takes to develop cancers. The SEER database suggests that in 2024, colorectal cancer in those younger than 50 years of age will become the number-one leading cause of cancer death in men and number-two in women. The increasing incidence of colorectal cancer in younger people is probably the result of a number of epidemiologic and other reasons.

The current report offers evidence of racial disparities in cancer mortality rates in general, which are twofold higher in Black people compared with White people, particularly for gastric cancer. There is also an evident disparity in Native Americans, who have higher rates of gastric and liver cancer. This is a reminder of the increasing need for equity to address racial disparities across these populations.

But returning to colon cancer, it’s a marked change to go from being the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in those younger than 50 years of age to being number one for men and number two for women.

Being “number one” is supposed to make you famous. This “number one,” however, should in fact be infamous. It’s a travesty, because colorectal cancer is a potentially preventable disease.

As we move into March, which happens to be Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, hopefully this fires up some of the conversations you have with your younger at-risk population, who may be reticent or resistant to colorectal cancer screening.

We have to do better at getting this message out to that population at large. “Number one” is not where we want to be for this potentially preventable problem.
 

Dr. Johnson is professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, and a past president of the American College of Gastroenterology. His primary focus is the clinical practice of gastroenterology. He has published extensively in the internal medicine/gastroenterology literature, with principal research interests in esophageal and colon disease, and more recently in sleep and microbiome effects on gastrointestinal health and disease. He has disclosed ties with ISOTHRIVE and Johnson & Johnson.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

The American Cancer Society has just published its cancer statistics for 2024. This is an annual report, the latest version of which has some alarming news for gastroenterologists. Usually, we think of being “number one” as a positive thing, but that’s not the case this year when it comes to the projections for colorectal cancer.

But first, let’s discuss the report’s overall findings. Broadly speaking, the news is quite good in that there’s been an aversion of over 4 million deaths since 1991. That decline over the past four decades is due to reductions in smoking, earlier detection, and improved screening and treatments for localized or metastatic disease. But these gains are now threatened by some offsets that we’re seeing, with increasing rates of six of the top 10 cancers in the past several years.
 

Increasing Rates of Gastrointestinal Cancers

The incidence rate of pancreas cancer has increased from 0.6% to 1% annually.

Pancreas cancer has a 5-year relative survival rate of 13%, which ranks as one of the three worst rates for cancers. This cancer represents a real screening challenge for us, as it typically presents asymptomatically.

Women have experienced a 2%-3% annual increase in incidence rates for liver cancer.

I suspect that this is due to cases of fibrotic liver disease resulting from viral hepatitis and metabolic liver diseases with nonalcoholic fatty liver and advanced fibrosis (F3 and F4). These cases may be carried over from before, thereby contributing to the increasing incremental cancer risk.

We can’t overlook the need for risk reduction here and should focus on applying regular screening efforts in our female patients. However, it’s also true that we require better liver cancer screening tests to accomplish that goal.
 

In Those Under 50, CRC the Leading Cause of Cancer Death in Men, Second in Women

I really want to focus on the news around colorectal cancer.

To put this in perspective, in the late 1990s, colorectal cancer was the fourth leading cause of death in men and women. The current report extrapolated 2024 projections using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database ending in 2020, which was necessary given the incremental time it takes to develop cancers. The SEER database suggests that in 2024, colorectal cancer in those younger than 50 years of age will become the number-one leading cause of cancer death in men and number-two in women. The increasing incidence of colorectal cancer in younger people is probably the result of a number of epidemiologic and other reasons.

The current report offers evidence of racial disparities in cancer mortality rates in general, which are twofold higher in Black people compared with White people, particularly for gastric cancer. There is also an evident disparity in Native Americans, who have higher rates of gastric and liver cancer. This is a reminder of the increasing need for equity to address racial disparities across these populations.

But returning to colon cancer, it’s a marked change to go from being the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in those younger than 50 years of age to being number one for men and number two for women.

Being “number one” is supposed to make you famous. This “number one,” however, should in fact be infamous. It’s a travesty, because colorectal cancer is a potentially preventable disease.

As we move into March, which happens to be Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, hopefully this fires up some of the conversations you have with your younger at-risk population, who may be reticent or resistant to colorectal cancer screening.

We have to do better at getting this message out to that population at large. “Number one” is not where we want to be for this potentially preventable problem.
 

Dr. Johnson is professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, and a past president of the American College of Gastroenterology. His primary focus is the clinical practice of gastroenterology. He has published extensively in the internal medicine/gastroenterology literature, with principal research interests in esophageal and colon disease, and more recently in sleep and microbiome effects on gastrointestinal health and disease. He has disclosed ties with ISOTHRIVE and Johnson & Johnson.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

ChatGPT (version 3.5) provides relatively poor and inconsistent responses when asked about appropriate colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and surveillance, a new study showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Three board-certified gastroenterologists with 10+ years of clinical experience developed five CRC screening and five CRC surveillance clinical vignettes (with multiple choice answers), which were fed to ChatGPT version 3.5.
• ChatGPT’s responses were recorded over four separate sessions and screened for accuracy to determine reliability of the tool.
• The average number of correct answers was compared to that of 238 gastroenterologists and colorectal surgeons answering the same questions with and without the help of a previously validated CRC screening mobile app.

TAKEAWAY:

• ChatGPT’s average overall performance was 45%; the average number of correct answers was 2.75 for screening and 1.75 for surveillance.
• ChatGPT’s responses were inconsistent in a large proportion of questions; the tool gave a different answer in four questions among the different sessions.
• The average number of total correct answers of ChatGPT was significantly lower (P < .001) than that of physicians with and without the mobile app (7.71 and 5.62 correct answers, respectively).

IN PRACTICE:

“The use of validated mobile apps with decision-making algorithms could serve as more reliable assistants until large language models developed with AI are further refined,” the authors concluded.

SOURCE:

The study, with first author Lisandro Pereyra, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was published online on February 7, 2024, in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

The 10 clinical vignettes represented a relatively small sample size to assess accuracy. The study did not use the latest version of ChatGPT. No “fine-tuning” attempts with inputs of diverse prompts, instructions, or relevant data were performed, which could potentially improve the performance of the chatbot.

DISCLOSURES:

The study had no specific funding. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

ChatGPT (version 3.5) provides relatively poor and inconsistent responses when asked about appropriate colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and surveillance, a new study showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Three board-certified gastroenterologists with 10+ years of clinical experience developed five CRC screening and five CRC surveillance clinical vignettes (with multiple choice answers), which were fed to ChatGPT version 3.5.
• ChatGPT’s responses were recorded over four separate sessions and screened for accuracy to determine reliability of the tool.
• The average number of correct answers was compared to that of 238 gastroenterologists and colorectal surgeons answering the same questions with and without the help of a previously validated CRC screening mobile app.

TAKEAWAY:

• ChatGPT’s average overall performance was 45%; the average number of correct answers was 2.75 for screening and 1.75 for surveillance.
• ChatGPT’s responses were inconsistent in a large proportion of questions; the tool gave a different answer in four questions among the different sessions.
• The average number of total correct answers of ChatGPT was significantly lower (P < .001) than that of physicians with and without the mobile app (7.71 and 5.62 correct answers, respectively).

IN PRACTICE:

“The use of validated mobile apps with decision-making algorithms could serve as more reliable assistants until large language models developed with AI are further refined,” the authors concluded.

SOURCE:

The study, with first author Lisandro Pereyra, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was published online on February 7, 2024, in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

The 10 clinical vignettes represented a relatively small sample size to assess accuracy. The study did not use the latest version of ChatGPT. No “fine-tuning” attempts with inputs of diverse prompts, instructions, or relevant data were performed, which could potentially improve the performance of the chatbot.

DISCLOSURES:

The study had no specific funding. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

ChatGPT (version 3.5) provides relatively poor and inconsistent responses when asked about appropriate colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and surveillance, a new study showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Three board-certified gastroenterologists with 10+ years of clinical experience developed five CRC screening and five CRC surveillance clinical vignettes (with multiple choice answers), which were fed to ChatGPT version 3.5.
• ChatGPT’s responses were recorded over four separate sessions and screened for accuracy to determine reliability of the tool.
• The average number of correct answers was compared to that of 238 gastroenterologists and colorectal surgeons answering the same questions with and without the help of a previously validated CRC screening mobile app.

TAKEAWAY:

• ChatGPT’s average overall performance was 45%; the average number of correct answers was 2.75 for screening and 1.75 for surveillance.
• ChatGPT’s responses were inconsistent in a large proportion of questions; the tool gave a different answer in four questions among the different sessions.
• The average number of total correct answers of ChatGPT was significantly lower (P < .001) than that of physicians with and without the mobile app (7.71 and 5.62 correct answers, respectively).

IN PRACTICE:

“The use of validated mobile apps with decision-making algorithms could serve as more reliable assistants until large language models developed with AI are further refined,” the authors concluded.

SOURCE:

The study, with first author Lisandro Pereyra, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Alemán of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was published online on February 7, 2024, in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

The 10 clinical vignettes represented a relatively small sample size to assess accuracy. The study did not use the latest version of ChatGPT. No “fine-tuning” attempts with inputs of diverse prompts, instructions, or relevant data were performed, which could potentially improve the performance of the chatbot.

DISCLOSURES:

The study had no specific funding. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE: 

In patients with stages I-III colorectal cancer (CRC) who are cancer-free 5 years after surgery, the incidence of late recurrence or metachronous disease after 5 years is low and has decreased over time, new data showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Recent treatment advances in CRC have reduced the likelihood that patients with nonmetastatic disease will recur or develop a second primary cancer more than 6 months after the first. Although late recurrences and metachronous CRC remain infrequent, it’s not clear if patients might benefit from longer term surveillance.
• To investigate whether extending surveillance beyond the recommended 5 years is beneficial, researchers assessed the incidence of late recurrence, metachronous CRC, and second primary cancers 5 years after surgical resection with curative intent.
• The researchers identified patients with stages I-III CRC, under age 80 years, from Danish healthcare registries who underwent surgical resection between January 2004 and December 2013.
• A total of 8883 patients were followed from 5 years after primary surgery until the date of recurrence, metachronous CRC, or second non-CRC primary cancer.

TAKEAWAY:

• Between 5 and 10 years after surgery, 370 survivors developed late recurrence (4.16%), 270 developed metachronous disease (3.0%), and 635 were diagnosed with a second primary cancer (7.15%).
• During 2009-2013 and 2004-2008, the risk for late recurrence decreased by 48% (5.6% vs 2.9%; subdistribution hazard ratio [sHR], 0.52) and the risk for metachronous disease decreased by 50% (4.1% vs 2.1%; sHR, 0.50).
• During the same timeframe, the risk for second non-CRC primary cancer remained unchanged (7.1% vs 7.1%; sHR, 0.98).
• Compared with patients diagnosed with late recurrences (46%), 5-year overall survival was higher for patients with metachronous CRC (72%; adjusted HR, 0.37) and slightly higher for those with second primary cancers (48%; adjusted HR, 0.78).

IN PRACTICE:

Because the incidences of late recurrence and metachronous CRC are low and decreased between 2004 and 2013, the data do not support extending CRC-specific surveillance beyond 5 years, the authors concluded. “Symptoms or suspicion of a cancer occurring 5-10 years from primary CRC treatment, is more likely to represent a non-CRC cancer (7.1%).”

SOURCE:

This study, led by Jesper Nors from Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, was published on February 7, 2024, in the International Journal of Cancer.

LIMITATIONS:

Misclassification of a late recurrence or metachronous CRC could have affected the findings.

DISCLOSURES:

This work was funded by Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Innovation Fund Denmark, and the Danish Cancer Society. The authors reported no conflict of interests.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE: 

In patients with stages I-III colorectal cancer (CRC) who are cancer-free 5 years after surgery, the incidence of late recurrence or metachronous disease after 5 years is low and has decreased over time, new data showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Recent treatment advances in CRC have reduced the likelihood that patients with nonmetastatic disease will recur or develop a second primary cancer more than 6 months after the first. Although late recurrences and metachronous CRC remain infrequent, it’s not clear if patients might benefit from longer term surveillance.
• To investigate whether extending surveillance beyond the recommended 5 years is beneficial, researchers assessed the incidence of late recurrence, metachronous CRC, and second primary cancers 5 years after surgical resection with curative intent.
• The researchers identified patients with stages I-III CRC, under age 80 years, from Danish healthcare registries who underwent surgical resection between January 2004 and December 2013.
• A total of 8883 patients were followed from 5 years after primary surgery until the date of recurrence, metachronous CRC, or second non-CRC primary cancer.

TAKEAWAY:

• Between 5 and 10 years after surgery, 370 survivors developed late recurrence (4.16%), 270 developed metachronous disease (3.0%), and 635 were diagnosed with a second primary cancer (7.15%).
• During 2009-2013 and 2004-2008, the risk for late recurrence decreased by 48% (5.6% vs 2.9%; subdistribution hazard ratio [sHR], 0.52) and the risk for metachronous disease decreased by 50% (4.1% vs 2.1%; sHR, 0.50).
• During the same timeframe, the risk for second non-CRC primary cancer remained unchanged (7.1% vs 7.1%; sHR, 0.98).
• Compared with patients diagnosed with late recurrences (46%), 5-year overall survival was higher for patients with metachronous CRC (72%; adjusted HR, 0.37) and slightly higher for those with second primary cancers (48%; adjusted HR, 0.78).

IN PRACTICE:

Because the incidences of late recurrence and metachronous CRC are low and decreased between 2004 and 2013, the data do not support extending CRC-specific surveillance beyond 5 years, the authors concluded. “Symptoms or suspicion of a cancer occurring 5-10 years from primary CRC treatment, is more likely to represent a non-CRC cancer (7.1%).”

SOURCE:

This study, led by Jesper Nors from Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, was published on February 7, 2024, in the International Journal of Cancer.

LIMITATIONS:

Misclassification of a late recurrence or metachronous CRC could have affected the findings.

DISCLOSURES:

This work was funded by Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Innovation Fund Denmark, and the Danish Cancer Society. The authors reported no conflict of interests.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE: 

In patients with stages I-III colorectal cancer (CRC) who are cancer-free 5 years after surgery, the incidence of late recurrence or metachronous disease after 5 years is low and has decreased over time, new data showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• Recent treatment advances in CRC have reduced the likelihood that patients with nonmetastatic disease will recur or develop a second primary cancer more than 6 months after the first. Although late recurrences and metachronous CRC remain infrequent, it’s not clear if patients might benefit from longer term surveillance.
• To investigate whether extending surveillance beyond the recommended 5 years is beneficial, researchers assessed the incidence of late recurrence, metachronous CRC, and second primary cancers 5 years after surgical resection with curative intent.
• The researchers identified patients with stages I-III CRC, under age 80 years, from Danish healthcare registries who underwent surgical resection between January 2004 and December 2013.
• A total of 8883 patients were followed from 5 years after primary surgery until the date of recurrence, metachronous CRC, or second non-CRC primary cancer.

TAKEAWAY:

• Between 5 and 10 years after surgery, 370 survivors developed late recurrence (4.16%), 270 developed metachronous disease (3.0%), and 635 were diagnosed with a second primary cancer (7.15%).
• During 2009-2013 and 2004-2008, the risk for late recurrence decreased by 48% (5.6% vs 2.9%; subdistribution hazard ratio [sHR], 0.52) and the risk for metachronous disease decreased by 50% (4.1% vs 2.1%; sHR, 0.50).
• During the same timeframe, the risk for second non-CRC primary cancer remained unchanged (7.1% vs 7.1%; sHR, 0.98).
• Compared with patients diagnosed with late recurrences (46%), 5-year overall survival was higher for patients with metachronous CRC (72%; adjusted HR, 0.37) and slightly higher for those with second primary cancers (48%; adjusted HR, 0.78).

IN PRACTICE:

Because the incidences of late recurrence and metachronous CRC are low and decreased between 2004 and 2013, the data do not support extending CRC-specific surveillance beyond 5 years, the authors concluded. “Symptoms or suspicion of a cancer occurring 5-10 years from primary CRC treatment, is more likely to represent a non-CRC cancer (7.1%).”

SOURCE:

This study, led by Jesper Nors from Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark, was published on February 7, 2024, in the International Journal of Cancer.

LIMITATIONS:

Misclassification of a late recurrence or metachronous CRC could have affected the findings.

DISCLOSURES:

This work was funded by Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Innovation Fund Denmark, and the Danish Cancer Society. The authors reported no conflict of interests.

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) epidemiology is changing due to a birth cohort effect, also called birth cohort CRC — the observed phenomena of the rising risk for CRC across successive generations of people born in 1960 and later — according to a new narrative review.

Birth cohort CRC is associated with increasing rectal cancer (greater than colon cancer) diagnosis and distant-stage (greater than local-stage) CRC diagnosis, and a rising incidence of early-onset CRC (EOCRC), defined as occurring before age 50.

Recognizing this birth cohort effect could improve the understanding of CRC risk factors, etiology, mechanisms, as well as the public health consequences of rising rates.

“The changing epidemiology means that we need to redouble our efforts at optimizing early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer,” Samir Gupta, MD, the review’s lead author and professor of gastroenterology at the University of California, San Diego, California, told this news organization. Dr. Gupta serves as the co-lead for the cancer control program at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health.

This requires “being alert for potential red flag signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer, such as iron deficiency anemia and rectal bleeding, that are otherwise unexplained, including for those under age 45,” he said.

We also should make “sure that all people eligible for screening — at age 45 and older — have every opportunity to get screened for colorectal cancer,” Dr. Gupta added.

The review was published online in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
 

Tracking Birth Cohort Trends

CRC rates have increased in the United States among people born since the early 1960s, the authors wrote.

Generation X (individuals born in 1965-1980) experienced an increase in EOCRC, and rates subsequently increased in this generation after age 50. Rates are 1.22-fold higher among people born in 1965-1969 and 1.58-fold higher among those born 1975-1979 than among people born in 1950-1954.

Now rates are also increasing across younger generations, particularly among Millennials (individuals born in 1981-1996) as they enter mid-adulthood. Incidence rates are 1.89-fold higher among people born in 1980-1984 and 2.98-fold higher among those born in 1990-1994 than among individuals born in 1950-1954.

These birth cohort effects are evident globally, despite differences in population age structures, screening programs, and diagnostic strategies around the world. Due to this ongoing trend, physicians anticipate that CRC rates will likely continue to increase as higher-risk birth cohorts become older, the authors wrote.

Notably, four important shifts in CRC incidence are apparent, they noted. First, rates are steadily increasing up to age 50 and plateauing after age 60. Rectal cancers are now predominant through ages 50-59. Rates of distant-stage disease have increased most rapidly among ages 30-49 and more slowly decreased among ages 60-79 compared with those of local-stage disease. In addition, the increasing rates of EOCRC have been observed across all racial and ethnic groups since the early 1990s.

These shifts led to major changes in the types of patients diagnosed with CRC now vs 30 years ago, with a higher proportion being patients younger than 60, as well as Black, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Hispanic patients.

The combination of age-related increases in CRC and birth cohort–related trends will likely lead to substantial increases in the number of people diagnosed with CRC in coming years, especially as Generation X patients move into their 50s and 60s, the authors wrote.
 

Research and Clinical Implications

Birth cohort CRC, including increasing EOCRC incidence, likely is driven by a range of influences, including demographic, lifestyle, early life, environmental, genetic, and somatic factors, as well as interactions among them, the authors noted. Examples within these broad categories include male sex, food insecurity, income inequality, diabetes, alcohol use, less healthy dietary patterns, in utero exposure to certain medications, and microbiome concerns such as early life antibiotic exposure or dysbiosis.

“From a research perspective, this means that we need to think about risk factors and mechanisms that are associated with birth cohorts, not just age at diagnosis,” Dr. Gupta said. “To date, most studies of changing epidemiology have not taken into account birth cohort, such as whether someone is Generation X or later versus pre-Baby Boomer.”

Although additional research is needed, the epidemiology changes have several immediate clinical implications, Dr. Gupta said. For those younger than 45, it is critical to raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of CRC, such as hematochezia, iron deficiency anemia, and unintentional weight loss, as well as family history.

For ages 45 and older, a major focus should be placed on increasing screening participation and follow-up after abnormal results, addressing disparities in screening participation, and optimizing screening quality.

In addition, as CRC incidence continues to increase, health systems and policymakers should ensure every patient has access to guideline-appropriate care and innovative clinical trials, the authors wrote. This access may be particularly important to address the increasing burden of rectal cancer, as treatment approaches rapidly evolve toward more effective therapies, such as neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation prior to surgery, and with less-morbid treatments on the horizon, they added.
 

‘An Interesting Concept’

“Birth cohort CRC is an interesting concept that allows people to think of their CRC risk according to their birth cohort in addition to age,” Shuji Ogino, MD, PhD, chief of the Molecular Pathological Epidemiology program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, told this news organization.

Dr. Ogino, who wasn’t involved with this study, serves as a member of the cancer immunology and cancer epidemiology programs at the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center. In studies of EOCRC, he and colleagues have found various biogeographical and pathogenic trends across age groups.

“More research is needed to disentangle the complex etiologies of birth cohort CRC and early-onset CRC,” Dr. Ogino said. “Tumor cells and tissues have certain past and ongoing pathological marks, which we can detect to better understand birth cohort CRC and early-onset CRC.”

The study was funded by several National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute grants. Dr. Gupta disclosed consulting for Geneoscopy, Guardant Health, Universal Diagnostics, InterVenn Bio, and CellMax. Another author reported consulting for Freenome, Exact Sciences, Medtronic, and Geneoscopy. Dr. Ogino reported no relevant financial disclosures. 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com .

Colorectal cancer (CRC) epidemiology is changing due to a birth cohort effect, also called birth cohort CRC — the observed phenomena of the rising risk for CRC across successive generations of people born in 1960 and later — according to a new narrative review.

Birth cohort CRC is associated with increasing rectal cancer (greater than colon cancer) diagnosis and distant-stage (greater than local-stage) CRC diagnosis, and a rising incidence of early-onset CRC (EOCRC), defined as occurring before age 50.

Recognizing this birth cohort effect could improve the understanding of CRC risk factors, etiology, mechanisms, as well as the public health consequences of rising rates.

“The changing epidemiology means that we need to redouble our efforts at optimizing early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer,” Samir Gupta, MD, the review’s lead author and professor of gastroenterology at the University of California, San Diego, California, told this news organization. Dr. Gupta serves as the co-lead for the cancer control program at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health.

This requires “being alert for potential red flag signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer, such as iron deficiency anemia and rectal bleeding, that are otherwise unexplained, including for those under age 45,” he said.

We also should make “sure that all people eligible for screening — at age 45 and older — have every opportunity to get screened for colorectal cancer,” Dr. Gupta added.

The review was published online in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
 

Tracking Birth Cohort Trends

CRC rates have increased in the United States among people born since the early 1960s, the authors wrote.

Generation X (individuals born in 1965-1980) experienced an increase in EOCRC, and rates subsequently increased in this generation after age 50. Rates are 1.22-fold higher among people born in 1965-1969 and 1.58-fold higher among those born 1975-1979 than among people born in 1950-1954.

Now rates are also increasing across younger generations, particularly among Millennials (individuals born in 1981-1996) as they enter mid-adulthood. Incidence rates are 1.89-fold higher among people born in 1980-1984 and 2.98-fold higher among those born in 1990-1994 than among individuals born in 1950-1954.

These birth cohort effects are evident globally, despite differences in population age structures, screening programs, and diagnostic strategies around the world. Due to this ongoing trend, physicians anticipate that CRC rates will likely continue to increase as higher-risk birth cohorts become older, the authors wrote.

Notably, four important shifts in CRC incidence are apparent, they noted. First, rates are steadily increasing up to age 50 and plateauing after age 60. Rectal cancers are now predominant through ages 50-59. Rates of distant-stage disease have increased most rapidly among ages 30-49 and more slowly decreased among ages 60-79 compared with those of local-stage disease. In addition, the increasing rates of EOCRC have been observed across all racial and ethnic groups since the early 1990s.

These shifts led to major changes in the types of patients diagnosed with CRC now vs 30 years ago, with a higher proportion being patients younger than 60, as well as Black, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Hispanic patients.

The combination of age-related increases in CRC and birth cohort–related trends will likely lead to substantial increases in the number of people diagnosed with CRC in coming years, especially as Generation X patients move into their 50s and 60s, the authors wrote.
 

Research and Clinical Implications

Birth cohort CRC, including increasing EOCRC incidence, likely is driven by a range of influences, including demographic, lifestyle, early life, environmental, genetic, and somatic factors, as well as interactions among them, the authors noted. Examples within these broad categories include male sex, food insecurity, income inequality, diabetes, alcohol use, less healthy dietary patterns, in utero exposure to certain medications, and microbiome concerns such as early life antibiotic exposure or dysbiosis.

“From a research perspective, this means that we need to think about risk factors and mechanisms that are associated with birth cohorts, not just age at diagnosis,” Dr. Gupta said. “To date, most studies of changing epidemiology have not taken into account birth cohort, such as whether someone is Generation X or later versus pre-Baby Boomer.”

Although additional research is needed, the epidemiology changes have several immediate clinical implications, Dr. Gupta said. For those younger than 45, it is critical to raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of CRC, such as hematochezia, iron deficiency anemia, and unintentional weight loss, as well as family history.

For ages 45 and older, a major focus should be placed on increasing screening participation and follow-up after abnormal results, addressing disparities in screening participation, and optimizing screening quality.

In addition, as CRC incidence continues to increase, health systems and policymakers should ensure every patient has access to guideline-appropriate care and innovative clinical trials, the authors wrote. This access may be particularly important to address the increasing burden of rectal cancer, as treatment approaches rapidly evolve toward more effective therapies, such as neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation prior to surgery, and with less-morbid treatments on the horizon, they added.
 

‘An Interesting Concept’

“Birth cohort CRC is an interesting concept that allows people to think of their CRC risk according to their birth cohort in addition to age,” Shuji Ogino, MD, PhD, chief of the Molecular Pathological Epidemiology program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, told this news organization.

Dr. Ogino, who wasn’t involved with this study, serves as a member of the cancer immunology and cancer epidemiology programs at the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center. In studies of EOCRC, he and colleagues have found various biogeographical and pathogenic trends across age groups.

“More research is needed to disentangle the complex etiologies of birth cohort CRC and early-onset CRC,” Dr. Ogino said. “Tumor cells and tissues have certain past and ongoing pathological marks, which we can detect to better understand birth cohort CRC and early-onset CRC.”

The study was funded by several National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute grants. Dr. Gupta disclosed consulting for Geneoscopy, Guardant Health, Universal Diagnostics, InterVenn Bio, and CellMax. Another author reported consulting for Freenome, Exact Sciences, Medtronic, and Geneoscopy. Dr. Ogino reported no relevant financial disclosures. 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com .

Colorectal cancer (CRC) epidemiology is changing due to a birth cohort effect, also called birth cohort CRC — the observed phenomena of the rising risk for CRC across successive generations of people born in 1960 and later — according to a new narrative review.

Birth cohort CRC is associated with increasing rectal cancer (greater than colon cancer) diagnosis and distant-stage (greater than local-stage) CRC diagnosis, and a rising incidence of early-onset CRC (EOCRC), defined as occurring before age 50.

Recognizing this birth cohort effect could improve the understanding of CRC risk factors, etiology, mechanisms, as well as the public health consequences of rising rates.

“The changing epidemiology means that we need to redouble our efforts at optimizing early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer,” Samir Gupta, MD, the review’s lead author and professor of gastroenterology at the University of California, San Diego, California, told this news organization. Dr. Gupta serves as the co-lead for the cancer control program at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health.

This requires “being alert for potential red flag signs and symptoms of colorectal cancer, such as iron deficiency anemia and rectal bleeding, that are otherwise unexplained, including for those under age 45,” he said.

We also should make “sure that all people eligible for screening — at age 45 and older — have every opportunity to get screened for colorectal cancer,” Dr. Gupta added.

The review was published online in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
 

Tracking Birth Cohort Trends

CRC rates have increased in the United States among people born since the early 1960s, the authors wrote.

Generation X (individuals born in 1965-1980) experienced an increase in EOCRC, and rates subsequently increased in this generation after age 50. Rates are 1.22-fold higher among people born in 1965-1969 and 1.58-fold higher among those born 1975-1979 than among people born in 1950-1954.

Now rates are also increasing across younger generations, particularly among Millennials (individuals born in 1981-1996) as they enter mid-adulthood. Incidence rates are 1.89-fold higher among people born in 1980-1984 and 2.98-fold higher among those born in 1990-1994 than among individuals born in 1950-1954.

These birth cohort effects are evident globally, despite differences in population age structures, screening programs, and diagnostic strategies around the world. Due to this ongoing trend, physicians anticipate that CRC rates will likely continue to increase as higher-risk birth cohorts become older, the authors wrote.

Notably, four important shifts in CRC incidence are apparent, they noted. First, rates are steadily increasing up to age 50 and plateauing after age 60. Rectal cancers are now predominant through ages 50-59. Rates of distant-stage disease have increased most rapidly among ages 30-49 and more slowly decreased among ages 60-79 compared with those of local-stage disease. In addition, the increasing rates of EOCRC have been observed across all racial and ethnic groups since the early 1990s.

These shifts led to major changes in the types of patients diagnosed with CRC now vs 30 years ago, with a higher proportion being patients younger than 60, as well as Black, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Hispanic patients.

The combination of age-related increases in CRC and birth cohort–related trends will likely lead to substantial increases in the number of people diagnosed with CRC in coming years, especially as Generation X patients move into their 50s and 60s, the authors wrote.
 

Research and Clinical Implications

Birth cohort CRC, including increasing EOCRC incidence, likely is driven by a range of influences, including demographic, lifestyle, early life, environmental, genetic, and somatic factors, as well as interactions among them, the authors noted. Examples within these broad categories include male sex, food insecurity, income inequality, diabetes, alcohol use, less healthy dietary patterns, in utero exposure to certain medications, and microbiome concerns such as early life antibiotic exposure or dysbiosis.

“From a research perspective, this means that we need to think about risk factors and mechanisms that are associated with birth cohorts, not just age at diagnosis,” Dr. Gupta said. “To date, most studies of changing epidemiology have not taken into account birth cohort, such as whether someone is Generation X or later versus pre-Baby Boomer.”

Although additional research is needed, the epidemiology changes have several immediate clinical implications, Dr. Gupta said. For those younger than 45, it is critical to raise awareness about the signs and symptoms of CRC, such as hematochezia, iron deficiency anemia, and unintentional weight loss, as well as family history.

For ages 45 and older, a major focus should be placed on increasing screening participation and follow-up after abnormal results, addressing disparities in screening participation, and optimizing screening quality.

In addition, as CRC incidence continues to increase, health systems and policymakers should ensure every patient has access to guideline-appropriate care and innovative clinical trials, the authors wrote. This access may be particularly important to address the increasing burden of rectal cancer, as treatment approaches rapidly evolve toward more effective therapies, such as neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation prior to surgery, and with less-morbid treatments on the horizon, they added.
 

‘An Interesting Concept’

“Birth cohort CRC is an interesting concept that allows people to think of their CRC risk according to their birth cohort in addition to age,” Shuji Ogino, MD, PhD, chief of the Molecular Pathological Epidemiology program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, told this news organization.

Dr. Ogino, who wasn’t involved with this study, serves as a member of the cancer immunology and cancer epidemiology programs at the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center. In studies of EOCRC, he and colleagues have found various biogeographical and pathogenic trends across age groups.

“More research is needed to disentangle the complex etiologies of birth cohort CRC and early-onset CRC,” Dr. Ogino said. “Tumor cells and tissues have certain past and ongoing pathological marks, which we can detect to better understand birth cohort CRC and early-onset CRC.”

The study was funded by several National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute grants. Dr. Gupta disclosed consulting for Geneoscopy, Guardant Health, Universal Diagnostics, InterVenn Bio, and CellMax. Another author reported consulting for Freenome, Exact Sciences, Medtronic, and Geneoscopy. Dr. Ogino reported no relevant financial disclosures. 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com .

Blood-based liquid biopsy tests for colorectal cancer (CRC) are in development and may soon hit the market, expanding potential options for patients who refuse traditional colonoscopy. But would they be a cost-effective screening tool?

Not according to an economic analysis by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.

There is “intense research and patient and public interest” in blood-based cancer tests.

“However, liquid biopsy tests may not have sufficient performance and cost too much for them to be a viable strategy at this time,” corresponding author Chin Hur, MD, MPH, told this news organization.

The study was published online on November 16, 2023 in JAMA Network Open..
 

Better, Cheaper Liquid Biopsies Needed

The researchers developed a Markov model to compare the cost effectiveness of no screening and five CRC screening strategies: colonoscopy, liquid biopsy, liquid biopsy after nonadherence to colonoscopy, stool DNA, and fecal immunochemical test (FIT).

The model simulated a hypothetical cohort of unscreened adults at average risk for CRC with screening starting at age 45 years, in line with current US Preventive Services Task Force advice.

A strategy was considered cost-effective if it had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) below the US willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained.

According to their model, colonoscopy was the preferred (most cost-effective) strategy with an ICER of $28,071 per life-year gained.

Offering liquid biopsy screening to adults who refuse colonoscopy was the most effective strategy in terms of number of life-years gained, but it greatly exceeded the accepted threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained coming in at $377,538 per life-year gained. The cost of liquid biopsy would have to drop by 66% for this approach to become a cost-effective option, the researchers write.

Compared with no screening, the cost of liquid biopsy would have to fall by 94% for its ICER to drop below the willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained. When compared with stool-based tests, the cost of liquid biopsy would have to drop by 43%-80% to be cost-effective.

Liquid biopsy and the liquid biopsy after refusal of colonoscopy strategies had more life-years gained when polyp detection was introduced, but they did not achieve cost-effectiveness at liquid biopsy’s current price even with perfect performance.

“With current estimate of performance and cost,” liquid biopsy for CRC screening is not cost-effective, Dr. Hur told this news organization.

Liquid biopsy tests for CRC screening may become cost-effective in the future if they are significantly less expensive or if polyp detection is introduced along with a decrease in cost, Dr. Hur said.

Making blood-based CRC screening more effective and cost-effective “is more likely to depend on the ability to detect precancerous polyps than on the detection of CRC itself,” writes John Inadomi, MD, with University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, in an invited commentary, also published online in JAMA Network Open. 

The sensitivity of FIT for detecting advanced polyps is roughly 20%, whereas stool multitarget tests for blood and DNA or RNA detect 40%-45% of advanced polyps, Dr. Inadomi notes.

Blood-based tests, on the other hand, have been reported to detect 12%-16% of advanced polyps, “which is close to probability of a false-positive test,” he writes. “Because of their high cost, blood-based CRC screening will not be cost-effective unless they detect a greater proportion of advanced polyps than FIT.”

The need for follow-up colonoscopy in the case of a positive noncolonoscopy CRC screening test result is “an important concept that is not emphasized enough in clinical practice,” Dr. Inadomi adds. “Unfortunately, only 40% to 80% of people with positive noncolonoscopy screening test results follow-up with the requisite colonoscopy. Clinicians need to emphasize the necessity of the follow-up colonoscopy when discussing CRC screening options and adherence.”

Dr. Hur reported receiving consulting fees from Value Analytics outside the submitted work. Dr. Hur and co-authors Fay Kastrinos, MD, MPH, and Sheila Rustgi, MD, are supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute. Co-author William Grady, MD, reported receiving personal fees from SEngine, Guardant Health, Freenome, Diacarta, Natera, Helio, Guidepoint, and GLG and nonfinancial support from LucidDx outside the submitted work. Grady also disclosed a patent pending for methylated gene biomarker for esophageal cancer. Co-author Yoanna Pumpalova, MD, reported receiving stock from Pfizer outside the submitted work. Inadomi reported receiving grants from Exact Sciences. 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Blood-based liquid biopsy tests for colorectal cancer (CRC) are in development and may soon hit the market, expanding potential options for patients who refuse traditional colonoscopy. But would they be a cost-effective screening tool?

Not according to an economic analysis by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.

There is “intense research and patient and public interest” in blood-based cancer tests.

“However, liquid biopsy tests may not have sufficient performance and cost too much for them to be a viable strategy at this time,” corresponding author Chin Hur, MD, MPH, told this news organization.

The study was published online on November 16, 2023 in JAMA Network Open..
 

Better, Cheaper Liquid Biopsies Needed

The researchers developed a Markov model to compare the cost effectiveness of no screening and five CRC screening strategies: colonoscopy, liquid biopsy, liquid biopsy after nonadherence to colonoscopy, stool DNA, and fecal immunochemical test (FIT).

The model simulated a hypothetical cohort of unscreened adults at average risk for CRC with screening starting at age 45 years, in line with current US Preventive Services Task Force advice.

A strategy was considered cost-effective if it had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) below the US willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained.

According to their model, colonoscopy was the preferred (most cost-effective) strategy with an ICER of $28,071 per life-year gained.

Offering liquid biopsy screening to adults who refuse colonoscopy was the most effective strategy in terms of number of life-years gained, but it greatly exceeded the accepted threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained coming in at $377,538 per life-year gained. The cost of liquid biopsy would have to drop by 66% for this approach to become a cost-effective option, the researchers write.

Compared with no screening, the cost of liquid biopsy would have to fall by 94% for its ICER to drop below the willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained. When compared with stool-based tests, the cost of liquid biopsy would have to drop by 43%-80% to be cost-effective.

Liquid biopsy and the liquid biopsy after refusal of colonoscopy strategies had more life-years gained when polyp detection was introduced, but they did not achieve cost-effectiveness at liquid biopsy’s current price even with perfect performance.

“With current estimate of performance and cost,” liquid biopsy for CRC screening is not cost-effective, Dr. Hur told this news organization.

Liquid biopsy tests for CRC screening may become cost-effective in the future if they are significantly less expensive or if polyp detection is introduced along with a decrease in cost, Dr. Hur said.

Making blood-based CRC screening more effective and cost-effective “is more likely to depend on the ability to detect precancerous polyps than on the detection of CRC itself,” writes John Inadomi, MD, with University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, in an invited commentary, also published online in JAMA Network Open. 

The sensitivity of FIT for detecting advanced polyps is roughly 20%, whereas stool multitarget tests for blood and DNA or RNA detect 40%-45% of advanced polyps, Dr. Inadomi notes.

Blood-based tests, on the other hand, have been reported to detect 12%-16% of advanced polyps, “which is close to probability of a false-positive test,” he writes. “Because of their high cost, blood-based CRC screening will not be cost-effective unless they detect a greater proportion of advanced polyps than FIT.”

The need for follow-up colonoscopy in the case of a positive noncolonoscopy CRC screening test result is “an important concept that is not emphasized enough in clinical practice,” Dr. Inadomi adds. “Unfortunately, only 40% to 80% of people with positive noncolonoscopy screening test results follow-up with the requisite colonoscopy. Clinicians need to emphasize the necessity of the follow-up colonoscopy when discussing CRC screening options and adherence.”

Dr. Hur reported receiving consulting fees from Value Analytics outside the submitted work. Dr. Hur and co-authors Fay Kastrinos, MD, MPH, and Sheila Rustgi, MD, are supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute. Co-author William Grady, MD, reported receiving personal fees from SEngine, Guardant Health, Freenome, Diacarta, Natera, Helio, Guidepoint, and GLG and nonfinancial support from LucidDx outside the submitted work. Grady also disclosed a patent pending for methylated gene biomarker for esophageal cancer. Co-author Yoanna Pumpalova, MD, reported receiving stock from Pfizer outside the submitted work. Inadomi reported receiving grants from Exact Sciences. 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Blood-based liquid biopsy tests for colorectal cancer (CRC) are in development and may soon hit the market, expanding potential options for patients who refuse traditional colonoscopy. But would they be a cost-effective screening tool?

Not according to an economic analysis by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.

There is “intense research and patient and public interest” in blood-based cancer tests.

“However, liquid biopsy tests may not have sufficient performance and cost too much for them to be a viable strategy at this time,” corresponding author Chin Hur, MD, MPH, told this news organization.

The study was published online on November 16, 2023 in JAMA Network Open..
 

Better, Cheaper Liquid Biopsies Needed

The researchers developed a Markov model to compare the cost effectiveness of no screening and five CRC screening strategies: colonoscopy, liquid biopsy, liquid biopsy after nonadherence to colonoscopy, stool DNA, and fecal immunochemical test (FIT).

The model simulated a hypothetical cohort of unscreened adults at average risk for CRC with screening starting at age 45 years, in line with current US Preventive Services Task Force advice.

A strategy was considered cost-effective if it had an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) below the US willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained.

According to their model, colonoscopy was the preferred (most cost-effective) strategy with an ICER of $28,071 per life-year gained.

Offering liquid biopsy screening to adults who refuse colonoscopy was the most effective strategy in terms of number of life-years gained, but it greatly exceeded the accepted threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained coming in at $377,538 per life-year gained. The cost of liquid biopsy would have to drop by 66% for this approach to become a cost-effective option, the researchers write.

Compared with no screening, the cost of liquid biopsy would have to fall by 94% for its ICER to drop below the willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per life-year gained. When compared with stool-based tests, the cost of liquid biopsy would have to drop by 43%-80% to be cost-effective.

Liquid biopsy and the liquid biopsy after refusal of colonoscopy strategies had more life-years gained when polyp detection was introduced, but they did not achieve cost-effectiveness at liquid biopsy’s current price even with perfect performance.

“With current estimate of performance and cost,” liquid biopsy for CRC screening is not cost-effective, Dr. Hur told this news organization.

Liquid biopsy tests for CRC screening may become cost-effective in the future if they are significantly less expensive or if polyp detection is introduced along with a decrease in cost, Dr. Hur said.

Making blood-based CRC screening more effective and cost-effective “is more likely to depend on the ability to detect precancerous polyps than on the detection of CRC itself,” writes John Inadomi, MD, with University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, in an invited commentary, also published online in JAMA Network Open. 

The sensitivity of FIT for detecting advanced polyps is roughly 20%, whereas stool multitarget tests for blood and DNA or RNA detect 40%-45% of advanced polyps, Dr. Inadomi notes.

Blood-based tests, on the other hand, have been reported to detect 12%-16% of advanced polyps, “which is close to probability of a false-positive test,” he writes. “Because of their high cost, blood-based CRC screening will not be cost-effective unless they detect a greater proportion of advanced polyps than FIT.”

The need for follow-up colonoscopy in the case of a positive noncolonoscopy CRC screening test result is “an important concept that is not emphasized enough in clinical practice,” Dr. Inadomi adds. “Unfortunately, only 40% to 80% of people with positive noncolonoscopy screening test results follow-up with the requisite colonoscopy. Clinicians need to emphasize the necessity of the follow-up colonoscopy when discussing CRC screening options and adherence.”

Dr. Hur reported receiving consulting fees from Value Analytics outside the submitted work. Dr. Hur and co-authors Fay Kastrinos, MD, MPH, and Sheila Rustgi, MD, are supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute. Co-author William Grady, MD, reported receiving personal fees from SEngine, Guardant Health, Freenome, Diacarta, Natera, Helio, Guidepoint, and GLG and nonfinancial support from LucidDx outside the submitted work. Grady also disclosed a patent pending for methylated gene biomarker for esophageal cancer. Co-author Yoanna Pumpalova, MD, reported receiving stock from Pfizer outside the submitted work. Inadomi reported receiving grants from Exact Sciences. 

A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Can green tea lower your risk of colorectal cancer? It depends on who – and what research – you believe. 

Evidence that links green tea and a lower risk of colorectal cancer goes both ways. Some researchers have found little or no significant risk from drinking the popular tea, while others point to a potential benefit. Now add two more studies – one that found no reduced risk and another that seems to strengthen the link between green tea and a lower risk of colon cancer. 

Randomized controlled trials – where some people get randomly assigned to drink green tea and others do not – are considered the gold standard of medical research. Combine the findings from several of these trials, the thinking goes, and the findings get even stronger. 

Combining random trials so far shows no advantage from green tea. But there may still be a benefit, said lead researcher Vishal Chandel, MD, who is affiliated with Suburban Community Hospital in Norristown, Pa. It could be that there are just not enough randomized controlled trials yet to show green tea has a protective effect.

“Many, many factors contribute to colorectal cancer, and one of them is diet. One thing which struck me was tea, because tea is something that people consume all over the world, and it has shown some stronger effects in Japan and in China,” said Dr. Chandel. 
 

Comparing hundreds of people 

Dr. Chandel and colleagues found three randomized controlled trials that looked at the link between green tea and colorectal cancer risk. Combined, the data included 451 people with colorectal cancer and 460 others without cancer who made up a control, or comparison, group. 

They found green tea consumption did not reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in a statically significant way. 

“There are only three randomized controlled trials from anywhere concerning green tea and colon cancer,” Dr. Chandel said. “We really need more. If we had 7, 8, or 10 … I’m very positive we will have a much stronger association to say that green tea can have a positive effect.”
 

Comparing thousands of people 

Dr. Chandel and colleagues also performed another study where they looked at less rigorous evidence – 10 cohort studies and 15 prospective case-control studies. These studies included 198,488 cancer cases and 581,556 controls. This time, they found a stronger link between green tea and a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. 

The “meta-analysis results indicate a lower tendency to develop colorectal cancer with green tea consumption, with reduced risk of colorectal cancer more pronounced in Asia than America or Europe,” the authors note. “Although there is insufficient epidemiological data to conclude at present that green tea can have protective effects in human beings.”

Dr. Chandel presented the findings of both studies in Vancouver at the American College of Gastroenterology annual scientific meeting.
 

Why green tea?

Dr. Chandel said he studied colorectal cancer because it is the third most diagnosed cancer worldwide, accounting for about 10% of all new cancer cases in 2020, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Cancer Observatory data. It is also a common cause of cancer death globally, second only to lung cancer. 

Green tea contains high level of polyphenols known as catechins. The main catechin in green tea believed to provide cancer protective effects is epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG). EGCG “has been shown in some studies to inhibit or prevent colon cancer,” Dr. Chandel said. 

EGCG is present in higher amounts in green tea, compared with black or oolong tea, because green tea is made from unfermented, unoxidized tea leaves.
 

Difficult to read the tea leaves

These studies “add to the literature, which remains undefined regarding the role of green tea in reducing the risk of colorectal cancer,” Catherine Eng, MD, a spokesperson for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said when asked to comment.

Although combining three trials did not reveal a significant benefit, looking at a greater number of studies did in some populations, said Dr. Eng, codirector of gastrointestinal oncology and chair of surgical and medical oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. 

“Potential benefit for green tea in reducing the risk of colorectal cancer was noted in the Asian cases but was not found to be statistically significant in the European or U.S. studies,” she said. “Currently, the role of dietary consumption of green tea on reducing the risk of colorectal cancer is not well established and requires further investigation.”

A version of this article appeared on WebMD.com.

Can green tea lower your risk of colorectal cancer? It depends on who – and what research – you believe. 

Evidence that links green tea and a lower risk of colorectal cancer goes both ways. Some researchers have found little or no significant risk from drinking the popular tea, while others point to a potential benefit. Now add two more studies – one that found no reduced risk and another that seems to strengthen the link between green tea and a lower risk of colon cancer. 

Randomized controlled trials – where some people get randomly assigned to drink green tea and others do not – are considered the gold standard of medical research. Combine the findings from several of these trials, the thinking goes, and the findings get even stronger. 

Combining random trials so far shows no advantage from green tea. But there may still be a benefit, said lead researcher Vishal Chandel, MD, who is affiliated with Suburban Community Hospital in Norristown, Pa. It could be that there are just not enough randomized controlled trials yet to show green tea has a protective effect.

“Many, many factors contribute to colorectal cancer, and one of them is diet. One thing which struck me was tea, because tea is something that people consume all over the world, and it has shown some stronger effects in Japan and in China,” said Dr. Chandel. 
 

Comparing hundreds of people 

Dr. Chandel and colleagues found three randomized controlled trials that looked at the link between green tea and colorectal cancer risk. Combined, the data included 451 people with colorectal cancer and 460 others without cancer who made up a control, or comparison, group. 

They found green tea consumption did not reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in a statically significant way. 

“There are only three randomized controlled trials from anywhere concerning green tea and colon cancer,” Dr. Chandel said. “We really need more. If we had 7, 8, or 10 … I’m very positive we will have a much stronger association to say that green tea can have a positive effect.”
 

Comparing thousands of people 

Dr. Chandel and colleagues also performed another study where they looked at less rigorous evidence – 10 cohort studies and 15 prospective case-control studies. These studies included 198,488 cancer cases and 581,556 controls. This time, they found a stronger link between green tea and a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. 

The “meta-analysis results indicate a lower tendency to develop colorectal cancer with green tea consumption, with reduced risk of colorectal cancer more pronounced in Asia than America or Europe,” the authors note. “Although there is insufficient epidemiological data to conclude at present that green tea can have protective effects in human beings.”

Dr. Chandel presented the findings of both studies in Vancouver at the American College of Gastroenterology annual scientific meeting.
 

Why green tea?

Dr. Chandel said he studied colorectal cancer because it is the third most diagnosed cancer worldwide, accounting for about 10% of all new cancer cases in 2020, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Cancer Observatory data. It is also a common cause of cancer death globally, second only to lung cancer. 

Green tea contains high level of polyphenols known as catechins. The main catechin in green tea believed to provide cancer protective effects is epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG). EGCG “has been shown in some studies to inhibit or prevent colon cancer,” Dr. Chandel said. 

EGCG is present in higher amounts in green tea, compared with black or oolong tea, because green tea is made from unfermented, unoxidized tea leaves.
 

Difficult to read the tea leaves

These studies “add to the literature, which remains undefined regarding the role of green tea in reducing the risk of colorectal cancer,” Catherine Eng, MD, a spokesperson for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said when asked to comment.

Although combining three trials did not reveal a significant benefit, looking at a greater number of studies did in some populations, said Dr. Eng, codirector of gastrointestinal oncology and chair of surgical and medical oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. 

“Potential benefit for green tea in reducing the risk of colorectal cancer was noted in the Asian cases but was not found to be statistically significant in the European or U.S. studies,” she said. “Currently, the role of dietary consumption of green tea on reducing the risk of colorectal cancer is not well established and requires further investigation.”

A version of this article appeared on WebMD.com.

Can green tea lower your risk of colorectal cancer? It depends on who – and what research – you believe. 

Evidence that links green tea and a lower risk of colorectal cancer goes both ways. Some researchers have found little or no significant risk from drinking the popular tea, while others point to a potential benefit. Now add two more studies – one that found no reduced risk and another that seems to strengthen the link between green tea and a lower risk of colon cancer. 

Randomized controlled trials – where some people get randomly assigned to drink green tea and others do not – are considered the gold standard of medical research. Combine the findings from several of these trials, the thinking goes, and the findings get even stronger. 

Combining random trials so far shows no advantage from green tea. But there may still be a benefit, said lead researcher Vishal Chandel, MD, who is affiliated with Suburban Community Hospital in Norristown, Pa. It could be that there are just not enough randomized controlled trials yet to show green tea has a protective effect.

“Many, many factors contribute to colorectal cancer, and one of them is diet. One thing which struck me was tea, because tea is something that people consume all over the world, and it has shown some stronger effects in Japan and in China,” said Dr. Chandel. 
 

Comparing hundreds of people 

Dr. Chandel and colleagues found three randomized controlled trials that looked at the link between green tea and colorectal cancer risk. Combined, the data included 451 people with colorectal cancer and 460 others without cancer who made up a control, or comparison, group. 

They found green tea consumption did not reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in a statically significant way. 

“There are only three randomized controlled trials from anywhere concerning green tea and colon cancer,” Dr. Chandel said. “We really need more. If we had 7, 8, or 10 … I’m very positive we will have a much stronger association to say that green tea can have a positive effect.”
 

Comparing thousands of people 

Dr. Chandel and colleagues also performed another study where they looked at less rigorous evidence – 10 cohort studies and 15 prospective case-control studies. These studies included 198,488 cancer cases and 581,556 controls. This time, they found a stronger link between green tea and a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. 

The “meta-analysis results indicate a lower tendency to develop colorectal cancer with green tea consumption, with reduced risk of colorectal cancer more pronounced in Asia than America or Europe,” the authors note. “Although there is insufficient epidemiological data to conclude at present that green tea can have protective effects in human beings.”

Dr. Chandel presented the findings of both studies in Vancouver at the American College of Gastroenterology annual scientific meeting.
 

Why green tea?

Dr. Chandel said he studied colorectal cancer because it is the third most diagnosed cancer worldwide, accounting for about 10% of all new cancer cases in 2020, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Cancer Observatory data. It is also a common cause of cancer death globally, second only to lung cancer. 

Green tea contains high level of polyphenols known as catechins. The main catechin in green tea believed to provide cancer protective effects is epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG). EGCG “has been shown in some studies to inhibit or prevent colon cancer,” Dr. Chandel said. 

EGCG is present in higher amounts in green tea, compared with black or oolong tea, because green tea is made from unfermented, unoxidized tea leaves.
 

Difficult to read the tea leaves

These studies “add to the literature, which remains undefined regarding the role of green tea in reducing the risk of colorectal cancer,” Catherine Eng, MD, a spokesperson for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said when asked to comment.

Although combining three trials did not reveal a significant benefit, looking at a greater number of studies did in some populations, said Dr. Eng, codirector of gastrointestinal oncology and chair of surgical and medical oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. 

“Potential benefit for green tea in reducing the risk of colorectal cancer was noted in the Asian cases but was not found to be statistically significant in the European or U.S. studies,” she said. “Currently, the role of dietary consumption of green tea on reducing the risk of colorectal cancer is not well established and requires further investigation.”

A version of this article appeared on WebMD.com.

I, like every pediatrician I know, believe that breast milk is the best nutrition for human newborns. Its balance of nutritive elements and its role in preventing of a wide range of illnesses are so great that we are still learning the extent of their magnitude. It just makes sense that a mother’s milk is most well suited for her baby.

I am a bit less unambiguous about breastfeeding. By that I mean the process of providing breast milk to an infant directly from its mother’s breast. Before you yank my AAP membership card, let me make it clear that I think every woman should consider breastfeeding her infant. But we must accept that in a few situations, even with help from caring and enlightened health care providers and family members, breastfeeding doesn’t work as well as we would have hoped. Fortunately, there are alternatives.

Wilkoff_William_G_2_web.jpg

My reservations about the process are few, and until recently I have had an unwaveringly positive attitude toward the safety of breast milk. The cause of my little bit of uncertainty arrived in a recent study by two researchers at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, in which the investigators examining the health histories of more than 150,000 women found that those who were breastfed incurred a 23% greater risk of developing colorectal cancer when they reached adulthood. A younger cohort within that larger group had a dramatic 40% increased risk of developing high-risk cancer before reaching age 55.

The population the investigators studied came from the large Nurses’ Health Study II, a well-known repository of longitudinal health data. The researchers reported that they included biometric data and a large collection of lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol intake, and diet in their calculations. However, breastfeeding continued to register the highest association. Interestingly, the investigators found that women who were breastfed for 9 months or longer had twice the risk of colorectal cancer as those who breastfed for from 4 to 8 months.

The study population was all women and predominantly white. However, in the general population it is the non-Hispanic white population that is experiencing the greatest increase in incidence. Of course, the study could not answer whether this association with breastfeeding also existed in minority populations.

The researchers suspect that what they are seeing is a reflection of the Westernization of the American lifestyle. One of the researchers is interested in the gut biome of infants and plans to further the investigation in that direction. Could some substance from the environment be concentrating in breast milk? Or is something missing in breast milk? She points out that, while formulas are generally fortified with vitamin D, breast milk is not.

As concerning as the results of this study may sound, the authors are very careful to urge mothers to continue to breastfeed and choose it as their first choice for feeding their babies. I have been pleasantly surprised that this study has not gotten widespread media attention because bad news travels fast. I have chosen to share it with you because at some point you may begin getting questions from concerned parents.

While apparently well done, this study is just the beginning. Like any good research, it poses more questions than it answers. For us as pediatricians it means we should continue to recommend breast milk as the first food. But, we must stay alert as further research looks deeper into this association.

We should also take advantage of our special access to young parents, a demographic that less frequently sees a physician for preventive care. For whatever reason colorectal cancer is occurring at younger ages. When we have the opportunity we should be reminding 40-year-olds not to wait until age 50 to screen for colorectal cancer, particularly if they have a family history of the disease.

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at pdnews@mdedge.com.

I, like every pediatrician I know, believe that breast milk is the best nutrition for human newborns. Its balance of nutritive elements and its role in preventing of a wide range of illnesses are so great that we are still learning the extent of their magnitude. It just makes sense that a mother’s milk is most well suited for her baby.

I am a bit less unambiguous about breastfeeding. By that I mean the process of providing breast milk to an infant directly from its mother’s breast. Before you yank my AAP membership card, let me make it clear that I think every woman should consider breastfeeding her infant. But we must accept that in a few situations, even with help from caring and enlightened health care providers and family members, breastfeeding doesn’t work as well as we would have hoped. Fortunately, there are alternatives.

Wilkoff_William_G_2_web.jpg

My reservations about the process are few, and until recently I have had an unwaveringly positive attitude toward the safety of breast milk. The cause of my little bit of uncertainty arrived in a recent study by two researchers at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, in which the investigators examining the health histories of more than 150,000 women found that those who were breastfed incurred a 23% greater risk of developing colorectal cancer when they reached adulthood. A younger cohort within that larger group had a dramatic 40% increased risk of developing high-risk cancer before reaching age 55.

The population the investigators studied came from the large Nurses’ Health Study II, a well-known repository of longitudinal health data. The researchers reported that they included biometric data and a large collection of lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol intake, and diet in their calculations. However, breastfeeding continued to register the highest association. Interestingly, the investigators found that women who were breastfed for 9 months or longer had twice the risk of colorectal cancer as those who breastfed for from 4 to 8 months.

The study population was all women and predominantly white. However, in the general population it is the non-Hispanic white population that is experiencing the greatest increase in incidence. Of course, the study could not answer whether this association with breastfeeding also existed in minority populations.

The researchers suspect that what they are seeing is a reflection of the Westernization of the American lifestyle. One of the researchers is interested in the gut biome of infants and plans to further the investigation in that direction. Could some substance from the environment be concentrating in breast milk? Or is something missing in breast milk? She points out that, while formulas are generally fortified with vitamin D, breast milk is not.

As concerning as the results of this study may sound, the authors are very careful to urge mothers to continue to breastfeed and choose it as their first choice for feeding their babies. I have been pleasantly surprised that this study has not gotten widespread media attention because bad news travels fast. I have chosen to share it with you because at some point you may begin getting questions from concerned parents.

While apparently well done, this study is just the beginning. Like any good research, it poses more questions than it answers. For us as pediatricians it means we should continue to recommend breast milk as the first food. But, we must stay alert as further research looks deeper into this association.

We should also take advantage of our special access to young parents, a demographic that less frequently sees a physician for preventive care. For whatever reason colorectal cancer is occurring at younger ages. When we have the opportunity we should be reminding 40-year-olds not to wait until age 50 to screen for colorectal cancer, particularly if they have a family history of the disease.

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at pdnews@mdedge.com.

I, like every pediatrician I know, believe that breast milk is the best nutrition for human newborns. Its balance of nutritive elements and its role in preventing of a wide range of illnesses are so great that we are still learning the extent of their magnitude. It just makes sense that a mother’s milk is most well suited for her baby.

I am a bit less unambiguous about breastfeeding. By that I mean the process of providing breast milk to an infant directly from its mother’s breast. Before you yank my AAP membership card, let me make it clear that I think every woman should consider breastfeeding her infant. But we must accept that in a few situations, even with help from caring and enlightened health care providers and family members, breastfeeding doesn’t work as well as we would have hoped. Fortunately, there are alternatives.

Wilkoff_William_G_2_web.jpg

My reservations about the process are few, and until recently I have had an unwaveringly positive attitude toward the safety of breast milk. The cause of my little bit of uncertainty arrived in a recent study by two researchers at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, in which the investigators examining the health histories of more than 150,000 women found that those who were breastfed incurred a 23% greater risk of developing colorectal cancer when they reached adulthood. A younger cohort within that larger group had a dramatic 40% increased risk of developing high-risk cancer before reaching age 55.

The population the investigators studied came from the large Nurses’ Health Study II, a well-known repository of longitudinal health data. The researchers reported that they included biometric data and a large collection of lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol intake, and diet in their calculations. However, breastfeeding continued to register the highest association. Interestingly, the investigators found that women who were breastfed for 9 months or longer had twice the risk of colorectal cancer as those who breastfed for from 4 to 8 months.

The study population was all women and predominantly white. However, in the general population it is the non-Hispanic white population that is experiencing the greatest increase in incidence. Of course, the study could not answer whether this association with breastfeeding also existed in minority populations.

The researchers suspect that what they are seeing is a reflection of the Westernization of the American lifestyle. One of the researchers is interested in the gut biome of infants and plans to further the investigation in that direction. Could some substance from the environment be concentrating in breast milk? Or is something missing in breast milk? She points out that, while formulas are generally fortified with vitamin D, breast milk is not.

As concerning as the results of this study may sound, the authors are very careful to urge mothers to continue to breastfeed and choose it as their first choice for feeding their babies. I have been pleasantly surprised that this study has not gotten widespread media attention because bad news travels fast. I have chosen to share it with you because at some point you may begin getting questions from concerned parents.

While apparently well done, this study is just the beginning. Like any good research, it poses more questions than it answers. For us as pediatricians it means we should continue to recommend breast milk as the first food. But, we must stay alert as further research looks deeper into this association.

We should also take advantage of our special access to young parents, a demographic that less frequently sees a physician for preventive care. For whatever reason colorectal cancer is occurring at younger ages. When we have the opportunity we should be reminding 40-year-olds not to wait until age 50 to screen for colorectal cancer, particularly if they have a family history of the disease.

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at pdnews@mdedge.com.