Table 5.

Cancer recurrence rates and difference in time to detection in RCTs of monitoring strategies following potentially curative resection of colorectal cancer

			Recurrence (%)		Detection advance (months)
Reference	Recruitment	Methods tested*	Intensive	Control
CEASL30	1982–1993	CEA	–†	–†	11
Ohlsson et al.17	1983–1986	CEA, CT, endoscopy			4
Kjeldsen et al.20	1983–1984	Endoscopy	26	26	9
Mäkelä et al.16	1988–1990	CT	42	39	5
Wang et al.27	1995–2001	Endoscopy	8	11	13
GILDA4	1998–2006	CT, endoscopy, liver ultrasonography	15	13	6
Wattchow et al.24	1998–2001	Setting: surgeon- or GP-led			2
FACS3
CEA	2003–2009	CEA	22	14	24
CT	2004–2009	CT	20	14	30
CEA and CT	2005–2009	CEA, CT	17·5	14	24

^*Only tests that were not the same in the two groups.

^†Only a minority of patients meeting the stringent carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) criteria were randomized, so detection was similar in both randomized groups and effectively 100 per cent.