Establishment of a colonic polyp registry in Rhode Island.

A colonic adenomatous polyp registry (PR) has been organized at the Roger Williams Medical Center whose main functions are to prevent the occurrence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the enrollees, to provide a population of subjects for epidemiological and interventional studies, and to provide educational, including dietary, information to subjects and physicians. One hundred four and 202 patients with polyps, originally retrieved from the hospital pathology files, were enrolled in the 1984 and 1987 cohorts, respectively, of whom about 90% were followed for at least three years after polypectomy. Three carcinomas, all Dukes A, were found in the right colon in the follow-up period. New polyps identified in the first three years after polypectomy were generally small tubular adenomas with a greater predilection for the right colon than was found for the index polyps. Risk factors for new polyps included history of previous polyps and, probably, multiple index polyps. The use of colonoscopy for postpolypectomy surveillance increased between 1984 and 1987. About 25% of the subjects in each cohort were either lost to follow-up or received no endoscopic surveillance. On the other hand, some of those who were followed were probably subjected to excessive numbers of procedures. Defects in the PR include inadequacy of personal and family history data, and steady loss of patients during the three to six years after polypectomy. Despite the small size and limited resources of our hospital, its colonic polyp registry has already provided information that may help in the management of patients with this premalignant condition. The more widespread use of securely funded polyp registries would probably reduce the incidence of metachronous CRC in that population and would have significant epidemiological and educational functions.