Guidelines and sources
In short
Coloscopy.com draws its content from the published guidelines of national and international gastroenterology, endoscopy, public-health, and anaesthesia bodies, supplemented by primary literature where guidelines are silent or out of date. This page lists the organisations whose work most often underpins the pages of this reference. Where pages cite a body, the citation refers to that organisation's most recent applicable guidance available at the time of writing or revision.
What this page covers
An indexed list of the bodies whose guidance is relevant to coloscopy and bowel-cancer prevention, with a short description of what each one does and how it is used on this site. Anchor links match the references in the colophon and in individual pages. Specific guideline titles, version numbers, and dates are not reproduced here, because those change; we point readers to the issuing organisation, which always carries the current version.
How we use these sources
Most pages on this reference are written from a synthesis of guidelines. Where the major bodies agree, we report the agreement. Where they differ — for example, in screening start age, or in whether non-anaesthesiologist-administered propofol is endorsed — we note the difference and identify the position of each body. Where a topic is contested or rapidly changing (a recent example is GLP-1 medications around endoscopy), we say so and point to the most recent statements.
Bodies in the United States
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)
An independent panel of national experts in primary care and prevention, convened under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The USPSTF issues evidence-based recommendations on screening services in the United States. Its colorectal-cancer screening recommendation determines, among other things, what insurers in the United States must cover without cost-sharing. We cite USPSTF on screening eligibility, recommended intervals, and the comparative role of stool-based tests, sigmoidoscopy, and coloscopy.
American College of Gastroenterology (ACG)
A professional society for gastroenterologists in the United States. ACG publishes clinical guidelines, including its colorectal cancer screening guideline, and is one of the three sponsoring societies of the United States Multi-Society Task Force. We cite ACG for screening recommendations, surveillance after polypectomy, and management of inflammatory bowel disease.
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE)
A professional society for clinicians who perform endoscopy. ASGE issues guidelines on technique, sedation, quality measures (including caecal intubation rates and adenoma detection rates), and management of bleeding, anticoagulation, and endoscopy-related complications. We cite ASGE on procedural standards, sedation, and quality.
American Gastroenterological Association (AGA)
One of the major professional societies of gastroenterologists in the United States. AGA publishes clinical guidelines and position statements covering screening, surveillance, IBD, and procedure-related questions, including its widely-cited statements on the use of propofol and on GLP-1 medications around endoscopy. We cite AGA on these topics and on care of high-risk groups.
American Cancer Society (ACS)
A nonprofit organisation that publishes its own colorectal-cancer screening guideline, drawing on epidemiological data and modelling. ACS guidance has at times differed from USPSTF (notably on the age at which to start screening) and is a useful comparator. We cite ACS where its guidance differs from or amplifies the position of public-sector bodies.
United States Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer (USMSTF)
A joint body of ACG, AGA, and ASGE that issues consensus recommendations specific to colorectal cancer screening, polypectomy follow-up, and surveillance intervals. USMSTF guidance is the principal source we use for the question of when a patient should return after a coloscopy with polyps removed. See surveillance intervals.
Bodies in Europe and the United Kingdom
European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE)
A pan-European society of endoscopists. ESGE publishes guidelines that are frequently used internationally — covering bowel preparation, surveillance, polypectomy technique, performance measures, and sedation, including non-anaesthesiologist-administered propofol. We cite ESGE as the European counterpart to ASGE on procedural and surveillance topics.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
The body that produces clinical guidance for the National Health Service in England. NICE publishes guidelines and quality standards covering bowel cancer screening, suspected cancer referral, IBD, and many adjacent topics. NICE guidance is also widely used outside England as a reference. We cite NICE on UK screening and clinical guidance.
British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG)
The professional society for gastroenterologists in the United Kingdom. BSG publishes guidelines (often jointly with the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland or with the Public Health England-led screening programme) on surveillance after polypectomy, on IBD surveillance, and on safe sedation for endoscopy. We cite BSG for UK-specific recommendations and for joint UK guidelines.
Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA)
The UK professional body for anaesthetists. RCoA issues standards for sedation outside the operating theatre, monitoring, and the qualifications of staff providing sedation. We cite RCoA on sedation safety standards.
Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS)
The French national health authority. HAS publishes recommendations on cancer screening — including the national bowel-cancer screening programme using FIT — and on clinical practice. We cite HAS where French national policy or recommendation is relevant to a topic.
Bodies elsewhere
Canadian Association of Gastroenterology (CAG)
The professional society of gastroenterologists in Canada. CAG publishes position statements on endoscopic sedation and screening practice in Canada and contributes to provincial screening programme guidance. We cite CAG on Canadian-specific issues, particularly around sedation and screening structure.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)
The professional college for general practitioners in Australia. RACGP's Guidelines for Preventive Activities in General Practice cover bowel-cancer screening recommendations used in Australian primary care, alongside the work of Cancer Council Australia and the National Health and Medical Research Council. We cite RACGP for Australian primary-care-relevant screening guidance.
World Health Organization (WHO) and IARC
The World Health Organization, including its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), publishes global epidemiology and policy guidance on cancer screening. WHO/IARC are useful for international comparison and for the description of bowel cancer as a worldwide public-health problem. We cite WHO/IARC for global epidemiology.
World Endoscopy Organization (WEO)
An international federation of endoscopy societies. WEO has produced widely-used terminology — for example, in the description of polyp morphology — and guidance documents on screening programme quality. We cite WEO on terminology and on programme-level quality.
Primary literature
Where guidelines do not yet address a topic — for example, the rapidly-changing landscape around GLP-1 receptor agonists and pre-procedure fasting — we draw on peer-reviewed primary literature, prioritising:
- Systematic reviews and meta-analyses, where available, in journals such as Gastroenterology, Gut, The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
- Large prospective cohort studies and registry analyses for questions about real-world rates of complications, adenoma detection, and surveillance outcomes.
- Randomised trials when they exist for procedural questions.
For specific page-level citations, see the Sources section near the end of each individual page.
Patient information from these bodies
Several of the organisations above maintain their own patient information. These resources are written for the populations the body serves and may differ in tone and emphasis from this reference. Where another body's patient information is recent, well-written, and applicable, we are happy to point readers to it; we do not regard our reference as a substitute for the work of national bodies. Specific external links are provided in context on the relevant pages, and we make a habit of checking those links periodically.
How to use this page
This page is reference, not clinical guidance. It tells you who informs the words you read elsewhere on this site. If you want to find the current version of a specific guideline, the issuing organisation's website is the right starting point — those documents are updated on their own schedules, and printed versions go out of date.
If you have a question about your own care, take it to your clinician. If you want to dig further into the evidence behind something on this site, the body cited at the foot of that page is the most direct route in.
Common questions, briefly addressed
Why don't you cite specific guideline numbers and years?
Guidelines are revised. A page that pinned itself to a 2017 statement, when the same body has issued a 2023 update, would mislead the reader. We cite organisations and let the reader find the current version through the body's site. When a particular page makes a point that is specific to a particular update, we say so in the text.
Why don't you list every body that has ever issued advice on bowel cancer?
The list above covers the bodies most often referenced across the pages of this site. Many other organisations issue useful guidance — national cancer institutes, regional gastroenterology societies, insurer policy committees, hospital networks. Where their guidance is the best available source for a specific point, we cite them in context.
Are some of these organisations funded by industry?
Many professional societies receive a share of their funding from industry (educational grants, journal advertising, conference exhibitor fees). This does not invalidate their guidelines, but it is one of several reasons to read across multiple sources rather than rely on any single one. The major bodies above publish disclosure policies for their guideline panels.
Where can I read the full text of a guideline?
Each organisation publishes its guidelines on its own website. Many are open-access; a few sit behind journal paywalls and are made available in summary form by the society. Public libraries and national health-information services can sometimes help with full-text access.
Sources for this page
- The websites of each body listed above
- The published charters and disclosure policies of those bodies
- The Cochrane Collaboration — for the standards by which systematic reviews are judged
- International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) — for citation and authorship standards followed in the literature this reference relies on