The colorectal adenoma–carcinoma sequence

It is widely accepted that the adenoma-carcinoma sequence represents the process by which most, if not all, colorectal cancers arise. The evidence supporting this hypothesis has increased rapidly in recent years and the purpose of this article is to review this evidence critically and highlight its clinical significance.

Medline searches were used to identify recent key articles relating to the adenoma-carcinoma sequence. Further pertinent articles were obtained by manual scanning of the reference lists of identified papers.