ABSTRACT
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of death from malignant disease in the Western world. In the UK, 20 000 people die from this disease each year. The vast majority of colonic cancer originates from adenomatous polyps, and the progression from polyp to cancer probably takes 10-15 years. The major exception to this are patients who develop cancer associated with long-standing inflammatory bowel disease, where the cancer develops from an area of dysplastic epithelium.
