1. Clinicopathological and molecular differences between stage IV screen-detected and interval colorectal cancers in the Flemish screening program.
- Author
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Neefs I, Tran TN, Ferrari A, Janssens S, Van Herck K, Op de Beeck K, Van Camp G, Peeters M, Fransen E, Hoeck S, and Van Hal G
- Abstract
Introduction: Interval cancer (IC) is an important quality indicator in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Previously, we found that fecal immunochemical test (FIT) ICs are more common in women, older age, right-sided tumors, and advanced stage. Here, we extended our existing stage IV patient cohort with clinicopathological and molecular characteristics, to identify factors associated with FIT-IC., Methods: Logistic regression models were fit to identify variables associated with the odds of having a stage IV FIT-IC. Multivariate models were corrected for gender, age, and location., Results: A total of 292 screen-detected (SD) CRCs and 215 FIT-IC CRCs were included. FIT-IC CRC had 5 fold higher odds to be a neuroendocrine (NET) tumor and 2.5 fold higher odds to have lymphovascular invasion. Interestingly, some variables lost significance upon accounting for location. Thus, tumor location is a critical covariate that should always be included when evaluating factors related to FIT-IC., Conclusions: We identified NETs and lymphovascular invasion as factors associated with increased odds of having a stage IV FIT-IC. Moreover, we highlight the importance of tumor location as a covariate in evaluating FIT-IC related factors. More research across all stages is needed to clarify how these insights might help to optimize the Flemish CRC screening program., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Neefs, Tran, Ferrari, Janssens, Van Herck, Op de Beeck, Van Camp, Peeters, Fransen, Hoeck and Van Hal.)
- Published
- 2024
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