The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) and the Association of Coloproctology for Great Britain and Ireland (ACPGBI) commissioned this update of the 2002 guidance. The aim, as before, is to provide guidance on the appropriateness, method and frequency of screening for people at moderate and high risk from colorectal cancer. This guidance provides some new recommendations for those with inflammatory bowel disease and for those at moderate risk resulting from a family history of colorectal cancer. In other areas guidance is relatively unchanged, but the recent literature was reviewed and is included where appropriate.

Anal fissure is a common problem that causes significant morbidity in a young and otherwise healthy population. Treatment has remained largely unchanged for over 150 years and the pathogenesis of this condition is not yet fully explained. Acute fissure should be treated conservatively with dietary modification. Chronic fissures do not respond to conservative treatment. The current recommended surgical treatment for chronic fissure is lateral internal sphincterotomy. However, there is a disturbance of continence in a sizeable proportion of those undergoing this procedure. As yet there is no proven non-surgical treatment for chronic fissure. Although local injection of botulinum toxin and the topical application of nitrates show early promise, further controlled trials are needed.

Although stapled hemorrhoidopexy is widely used, the data available on long-term outcomes is limited. The variability in case selection and reported end points are difficulties in interpreting results. Stapled hemorrhoidopexy has unique potential complications and is a less effective cure compared with hemorrhoidectomy. With this understanding, it may be offered to patients seeking a less painful alternative to conventional surgery. Hemorrhoidectomy remains the "gold standard" of treatment.

No abstract

Many colorectal tumors lose or downregulate cell surface expression of MHC class I molecules conferring resistance to T-cellmediated attack. It has been suggested that this phenomenon is due to in vivo immune-tumor interactions. However, evidence of the impact of MHC class I loss on outcomes from colorectal cancer is scarce. In our study of more than 450 colorectal cancers in tissue microarray format, we have shown that both high levels of MHC class I expression and absent MHC class I expression are associated with similar disease-specific survival times, possibly due to natural killer cell-mediated clearance of MHC class I-negative tumor cells. However, tumors with low level expression of MHC class I were found to confer a significantly poorer prognosis, retaining independent significance on multivariate analysis. The existence of these poor prognosis tumors, which may avoid both NK-and T-cell-mediated immune surveillance, has important implications for the design of immunotherapeutic strategies in colorectal cancer. ' 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Although the reduction in CRC mortality was sustained, further follow-up of the screened population has not shown a significant reduction in the CRC incidence. Moreover, despite the removal of many large adenomas there was no reduction in the incidence of invasive cancer which was independent of sex and site of the tumour.

Background: Three large randomised trials have shown that screening for colorectal cancer using faecal occult blood (FOB) tests can reduce the mortality from this disease. Two national pilot studies have recently been launched in the UK to investigate the feasibility of population screening for colorectal cancer in the National Health Service. The largest of the randomised trials was conducted in Nottingham and randomised 152 850 individuals between the ages of 45 and 74 years to receive biennial Haemoccult (FOB) test kit (intervention group) or to a control group. Aims: We have compared the mortality in the intervention group compared with the control group. Methods: The 152 850 randomised individuals were followed up through local health records and central flagging (Office for National Statistics) over a median follow up period of 11 years. Results: At a median follow up of 11 years there was a 13% reduction in colorectal cancer mortality (95% confidence interval 3-22%) in the intervention group despite an uptake at first invitation of only approximately 50%. The mortality reduction for those accepting screening was 27%. The reduction in mortality was independent of sex and site of tumour. There was no significant difference in mortality from causes other than colorectal cancer between the intervention and control groups. Conclusions: Although the reduction in colorectal cancer mortality was sustained, further follow up of this population is required to determine whether a significant reduction in the incidence of colorectal cancer will be achieved.

AIN III appears to have a relatively low potential for malignant transformation in the immunocompetent patient. However, immunosuppressed patients are more likely to have extensive AIN III and a greater risk of malignant change.