Research news: Colon threats elude testers

The News:
Colon threats elude testers
Flat growths, not polyps, pose the bigger cancer threat, says a new study expected to change care.
By Carla K. Johnson The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 03/05/2008 01:54:23 AM MST
CHICAGO — Flat growths on the colon wall are more common in Americans than previously thought and more likely to be cancerous than the more familiar knobby masses known as polyps, a new study finds.
New techniques can locate and remove the flat growths, but many doctors aren't aware of their cancer risk and may not know how to look for them. The findings are likely to change the practice of colonoscopy, experts said, and may explain some colon cancers that arise between colonoscopies.
"I think it is very important. It's going to intensify the need for quality screening," said Dr. Stephen Hanauer, gastroenterology chief at the University of Chicago, who was not involved in the study. "You're not going to be able to do seven-minute colonoscopies."
The growths tend to be smaller when they are cancerous — the size of a nickel instead of a quarter — and are level with the colon wall or depressed like a pothole. They blend in with the surrounding tissue and are difficult to spot.
"They look like a pancake just lying on the floor," said the study's lead author, Dr. Roy Soetikno of the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in California. more...

The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the Journal of the American Medical Association.