Friday, November 18, 2011

Comparing Computed Tomography Colonography to Colonoscopy

Amsterdam — Although recommendations for screening for colon cancer are widespread, the method for screening is still under debate.
A study published in Lancet Oncology suggests that for advanced cancer, computed tomographic (CT) colonography has a diagnostic rate similar to traditional colonoscopy. CT colonography is sometimes referred to as virtual colonoscopy.
Researchers in Amsterdam invited members of the general population for colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy or noncathartic CT colonography. Of the 5,924 participants invited for colonoscopy, 1276 (22%) underwent the procedure, compared with 982 (34%) of the 2920 CT colonography invitees, according to an article in Medscape.com that reported the findings.
The researchers report that the diagnostic yield for advanced neoplasia was 8.7 per 100 participants for the colonoscopy group and 6.1 per 100 participants for the CT colonography group. For lesions 10 mm or greater, the diagnostic yield for advanced neoplasia was similar for both techniques — 1.5 per 100 invitees for colonoscopy and 2.0 per 100 invitees for CT colonography — indicating that both procedures can be used successfully for population-based screening, according to the researchers.

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