Colorectal cancer demographics in Barbados

Epidemiology of neoplastic colorectal polyps in a Caribbean country

Screening is practiced to identify and remove neoplastic colorectal polyps prior to their transformation into colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of the present study was to document the epidemiology of neoplastic colorectal polyps in order to obtain important data that may then be used to guide screening protocols in Jamaica. For this purpose, an audit was performed to identify all consecutive patients who had neoplastic polyps detected at a screening colonoscopy at a facility in Jamaica from January 1, 2015 to December 30, 2018. The following data were collected: Patient demographics, polyp location, polyp synchronicity and histopathological information. The results revealed that a total of 480 colonoscopies were performed over the study period. With the exclusion of 2 patients with innumerable polyps as a part of polyposis syndrome, there were a total of 92 neoplastic polyps in 68 patients. Polyps were most commonly located in the right colon (55.6%), followed by the left colon (38%) and rectum (6.5%). Upon the histological evaluation, 63 polyps were found to be benign adenomas with mild to moderate dysplastic alterations, 15 were adenomas with severe dysplasia and/or carcinoma in situ and 14 had foci of invasive carcinomas. On the whole, the present study demonstrates that ~15% of the patients screened had neoplastic polyps that were recognized as precursor lesions for CRC. The majority of these were in the right colon. These results support the call for policy makers to institute national CRC screening programs, such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network harmonized guidelines for the Caribbean.