Treatment of the SPECC lesion.

The treatment of the Significant Polyp and Early Colorectal Cancer lesion has evolved from strategies formally based around didactic pathological diagnoses ('cancer or no cancer?') and the limited availability of certain techniques ('what can we do?') into a more advanced situation of understanding diagnostic uncertainty ('the what if scenario'), factoring patient preference & approach to risk and the availability of a wide range of techniques in both the rectum and the colon. It is now the former rather than the latter which are driving decision making and treatment strategies ('what should we do'). Decisions are now made around possible planes of 'safe' excision and options for completion treatment and these issues are discussed in full.

The PROFILE Feasibility Study: Targeted Screening of Men With a Family History of Prostate Cancer.

Background: A better assessment of individualized prostate cancer (PrCa) risk is needed to improve screening. The use of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level for screening in the general population has limitations and is not currently advocated. Approximately 100 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified that are associated with the risk of developing PrCa.

Systematic analysis of missed colorectal cancer cases and common pitfalls in diagnosis.

Background: Missed colorectal cancer on endoscopic or radiological investigations may delay diagnosis and impact outcome. This study audits incidence of previous investigations in patients with colorectal cancer, considers outcome in 'missed' cancer cases and examines the diagnostic pathway in the derived case series to identify common pitfalls in diagnosis.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2011 at a single National Health Service (NHS) Trust were reviewed.