Sistema Gastrointestinal e Digestivo

Abstrato

Characteristics and Risk Stratification of Colon Polyps among Asymptomatic Hispanic Patients Undergoing First Time Screening Colonoscopy: A Retrospective Study

Rashmee Pati, Sonam Khoosal, Lindsey Cassidy and Mel Ona

Goals: To determine characteristics of polyps in Hispanic patients undergoing first-time screening colonoscopy and to risk stratify them based on findings.

Background: Current guidelines recommend screening colonoscopy beginning at age 50 in the average-risk population. Race has been shown to influence the risk of colorectal cancer, thus leading to the recommendation of initiating screening in blacks at the age of 45. Few data exist on the prevalence and characteristics of colon polyps among U.S. Hispanics.

Study: Retrospective study at a community hospital in Brooklyn, NY serving large Hispanic population including patients >50 undergoing first-time screening colonoscopy who met inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results: Our final data analysis of 192 Hispanic patients showed that the majority of polyps (56%) were tubular adenomas with 17% showing dysplastic features. In a risk stratification analysis, 52.6% of patients fell into the low risk category while 47.4% of patients had adenomas with at least one high risk feature for progression to colon cancer.

Conclusions: We found that Hispanic patients undergoing first-time screening colonoscopy have increased risk for malignancy based on the features of their polyps. There is need for further, race-specific studies determining the cause of increased progression to neoplasia and the possible need for earlier screening.