Background and aim: Fusobacterium nucleatum is increasingly being recognized as an important risk factor in colorectal cancer and colorectal adenoma. Endoscopic polypectomy is associated with a decreased incidence of colorectal cancer; however, patients still suffer from a risk of metachronous adenoma. Currently, there are few effective non-invasive factors that may predict metachronous colorectal adenoma. Here, we evaluated the performance of F. nucleatum in predicting metachronous adenoma.
Methods: Fecal samples and clinical information of patients before endoscopic polypectomy were collected from 367 patients in a retrospective cohort, and 238 patients in a prospective cohort. The abundance of fecal F. nucleatum was measured via quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Surveillance colonoscopies were conducted between 1 and 3 years after polypectomy (average follow-up 27.07 months for the retrospective cohort & 22.57 months for the prospective cohort) to identify metachronous adenoma. Candidate predictive factors and cut-off value of F. nucleatum abundance were identified from the retrospective cohort and then validated in the prospective cohort.
Results: A high abundance of fecal F. nucleatum was found to be an independent risk factor for metachronous adenomas (odds ratio, 6.38; P < 0.001) in the retrospective cohort and was validated in the prospective cohort with a specificity of 65.00%, and a sensitivity of 73.04%, and an overall performance with the area under the curve of 0.73.
Conclusion: Fecal abundance of F. nucleatum may be a reliable predictor for metachronous adenoma after endoscopic polypectomy.
Keywords: Fusobacterium nucleatum; endoscopic polypectomy; gut bacterial marker; metachronous colorectal adenoma; non-invasive diagnosis.
© 2021 Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Foundation and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.