Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 14, 2025; 31(18): 106670
Published online May 14, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i18.106670
Personalized surveillance in colorectal cancer: Integrating circulating tumor DNA and artificial intelligence into post-treatment follow-up
Ionut Negoi
Ionut Negoi, Department of General Surgery, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest, Clinical Emergency Hospital of Bucharest, Bucharest 014461, Romania
Author contributions: Negoi I contributed to this study, designed the overall concept and outline of the manuscript, contributed to the discussion and design of the manuscript, contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript, and reviewed the literature.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ionut Negoi, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of General Surgery, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest, Clinical Emergency Hospital of Bucharest, No. 8 Floreasca Street, Sector 1, Bucharest 014461, Romania. negoiionut@gmail.com
Received: March 4, 2025
Revised: April 7, 2025
Accepted: April 18, 2025
Published online: May 14, 2025
Processing time: 70 Days and 13.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Given the increasing incidence of colorectal cancer, especially among younger populations, effective post-treatment surveillance is essential for early detection of recurrence and improved outcomes. Intensive surveillance has variable efficacy, underscoring the need for personalized, risk-based protocols. Suboptimal adherence to guidelines further highlights the need for efficient, individualized approaches. Circulating tumor DNA shows promise as a biomarker, offering high specificity and diagnostic accuracy. Additionally, artificial intelligence models utilizing patient and tumor data have the potential to refine surveillance, with predictive accuracy ranging from 0.581 to 0.979. Nonetheless, cost, accessibility, and validation remain significant barriers to widespread clinical implementation.