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Reply to "How often are you meant to have a pouchoscopy?"

I previously posted another thread that my pouch doctor put me on an annual pouchoscopy plan this year due to heightened concerns about cancer of the rectal cuff:

http://j-pouch.org/eve/forums/...127007026#3127007026

My pouch specialist is a protege of the famed Dr. Bo Shen (a leading USA expert on J Pouches) and Dr. Shen told him the Cleveland Clinic is seeing increased instances of rectal cuff cancer. My pouch doctor said everyone has microscopic inflammation in their pouch/cuff so the old notion of "scope 'em every year only if there is a problem" is being tossed out the window.

J Pouches have a track record only going back a little more than 20 years and now that we are 20 years out from when they started being commonly done, such that there is enough statistical evidence in place, a track record is forming as to the risks attendant to leaving that rectal cuff in place and how it behaves over time. This is statisical evidence based on people who have had J Pouches for a long period of time, which is only now being compiled and analyzed since they did not exist in large numbers prior to about 1990 or so.

I suspect your hospital is being proactive and you should not be unduly alarmed, they are just waking up to the recently accepted fact that the current thinking on the timing of scopes for all patients who have rectal cuffs is changing. It is changing but not everyone is feeling those winds of change yet.
Last edited by CTBarrister
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