Hong Kong researchers identify new high-risk group for colorectal cancer
Siblings of people with a certain type of intestinal polyp that can lead to the disease are six times more likely to develop them than siblings of those unaffected
Researchers at Chinese University have identified a new high-risk group for colorectal cancer – the most common cancer in Hong Kong.
A study from 2010 to 2014 revealed that siblings of people with advanced adenomas – polyps with a higher chance of becoming malignant – were six times more likely to develop them than siblings of unaffected people.
Professor Simon Ng Siu-man of the university’s division of colorectal surgery in the department of surgery pointed out that if an advanced adenoma was not removed, a person’s risk of getting colorectal cancer after five years was 2 to 3 per cent, rising to 10 per cent after 10 years.
The findings will help to identify high-risk individuals before they develop colorectal cancer.
Using colonoscopies – examining the colon for abnormalities – the researchers looked at 600 people aged 52 to 64, comparing 200 symptom-free siblings of subjects with advanced adenomas with 400 age-matched and sex-matched siblings of subjects with normal colonoscopies and no family history of colorectal cancer.
Ng said: “Colorectal carcinomas are mainly evolved from intestinal polyps [adenomas] over time. If the polyps can be discovered in time and removed through colonoscopy, the incidence of colorectal cancer could be curbed effectively.”
