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Colon cancer postoperative surveillance — USMLE Step 3 MCQ

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HardSurgery (post-operative, follow-up)Colon cancer postoperative surveillanceUSMLE Step 3

A 67-year-old had curative resection of stage II colon cancer. A high-quality perioperative colonoscopy cleared the remaining colon, and he has no symptoms one year later. Which surveillance investigation is due now?

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Correct answer: B — A surveillance colonoscopy at one year after surgery

After curative colorectal-cancer resection with complete perioperative clearing, the first surveillance colonoscopy is performed at one year. Stool tests do not replace this surveillance examination, and waiting for symptoms or a longer interval risks missing metachronous lesions.

Reference: ACG: Colonoscopy Surveillance After Colorectal Cancer Resection: https://gi.org/journals-publications/acg-blog/new-joint-guidelines-urge-colonoscopy-after-crc-resection/