Postsurgical surveillance: How intensive should it be?

M. Dicato*, S. Cherrier, E. Van Custsem, G. Berchem

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The best target group for surveillance after curative surgery is the stage III and postcurative stage IV disease group of patients. Most patients who relapse will do so 3 to 5 years after surgery. Newer drugs might delay the relapse period. Overall, only a small number of patients will benefit. There is a need for large, well designed, randomized studies, but these are difficult to do. Additional techniques will have to be validated as they come along. A general recommendation at the present time could be: physician evaluation, carcinoembryonic antigen testing, liver imaging, and colonoscopy. The frequency of these modalities at 3 and 6 months seems reasonable knowing that there is no final survival advantage demonstrated by randomized studies as of yet.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)35-38
    Number of pages4
    JournalCurrent Colorectal Cancer Reports
    Volume3
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2007

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