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Comment & Response
October 2017

Risk of Primary Tumor Sidedness as a Criterion for Screening, Diagnostic Colonoscopy, and Surveillance Intervals

Author Affiliations
  • 1School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
  • 2State Key Laboratory, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
JAMA Oncol. 2017;3(10):1426-1427. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.1504

To the Editor Petrelli and colleagues1 examined the prognostic role of left- vs right-sidedness of primary colon cancer by a systematic review and meta-analysis and found that tumors on the right side were associated with significantly higher risk of death. They proposed incorporating colon cancer sidedness as a criterion for establishing prognosis when deciding oncologic treatment intensity in the adjuvant and metastatic settings. Whereas their findings were robust and bear important implications for oncologists, they could also be generalized to primary care practitioners and endoscopists. Their findings could contribute to at least 3 additional areas of clinical practice, including risk-based screening, prioritization of diagnostic colonoscopy, and colonoscopy surveillance intervals.

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