Endoscopic Versus Surgical Treatment for T1 Colorectal Cancer

The implementation of population screening programs for colorectal cancer (CRC) has led to a considerable increase in the prevalence T1 CRC originating on polyps amenable by endoscopy. The benefits of secondary oncological surgery in terms of disease free survival are not well established. Hypothesis: The characteristics of the individuals and the polyp (endoscopic, histological) should allow us to discriminate T1 CRCs that may benefit from secondary surgery from those that only require local treatment. With the current criteria, the management of patients with T1 CRC is suboptimal since a high proportion of patients are refered for unnecessary surgeries without a clear benefit in terms of survival. Molecular signatures can help to discriminate those patients with good prognosis that do not require secondary surgery nor cancer related follow up.