Polypectomy surveillance

NEW YORK, June 15 (Praxis Press) Whether colonoscopy is more effective than barium enema for the detection of adenomas in polypectomy patients is unclear. Winawer and colleagues examined 580 polypectomy patients and performed 862 paired colonoscopies and barium-enema examinations (see abstract). One or more adenomas were detected in 28 percent of the colonoscopies. Out of those 28 percent, barium enemas were only positive for 39 percent of them. In addition, the rate of detection for barium enema was significantly related to the size of the largest adenoma detected by colonoscopic examination. In patients who have undergone colonoscopic polypectomy, colonoscopy is a more effective method of surveillance than double-contrast barium enema.