Table 1.

Introduction section, key points

• Screening colonoscopy with polypectomy has significantly reduced the incidence of, and mortality from, colorectal cancer.

• Polyp and adenoma detection rates are the most important markers of quality in diagnostic colonoscopy.

• Incomplete polyp resection is one of the major causes of interval cancer.

• The advanced-neoplasia potential of colonic polyps is size-dependent.

• Serrated polyps need to be carefully sought after, since they are frequently misdiagnosed and incompletely removed, and hence significantly contribute to the development of interval CRC.

• New platforms in both diagnostic and therapeutic colonoscopy are being developed.