Patients with low-risk adenoma ‘need fewer scopes’

Updated advice says it's safe to wait 10 years for a follow-up colonoscopy
Clare Pain
Colonoscopy

Colonoscopies could be halved in patients who have had low-risk adenomas removed, freeing up overstretched services for patients more at need, new guidelines suggest.

The updated Cancer Council Australia guidance, released last week, says it is safe to wait a decade before carrying out a follow-up colonoscopy in these patients rather than routinely performing one five years after polypectomy, as advised in its 2011 guide.