Fig. 1.

A summary of patient cases prospectively enrolled into this study. Some OC patients were judged to be free of colonic tumors (screening normal). Others carried polyps of unknown growth profile. These polyps were excised and classified by standard histopathologic criteria as low-risk or advanced adenomas. Polyps excised from CTC patients were also classified as advanced or low-risk adenomas. When available, their longitudinal size profiles classified them independently as growing, static, or regressing. Most, but not all, CTC patients returned for a postpolypectomy blood draw. The level of a biomarker of interest relative to its standard was compared between prepolypectomy and postpolypectomy sera.