AuntMinnie.com Virtual Colonoscopy Radiology Insider

Reliable stool-tagging and digital subtraction techniques are important goals of virtual colonoscopy providers, who are working to create a minimal-prep exam that's more patient-friendly and encourages better screening compliance than current methods. Dr. Michael Zalis from Massachusetts General Hospital discusses the latest results.

Dear AuntMinnie Insider,

Reliable stool-tagging and digital subtraction techniques are important goals for virtual colonoscopy providers, who are working to create a minimal-prep exam that's more patient-friendly and encourages better screening compliance than current methods.

Dr. Michael Zalis, who directs the CT colonography program at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, is a leader in this pursuit. At the 2003 International Symposium on Virtual Colonoscopy, Zalis discussed studies in progress at his institution, as well as the contributions of other researchers in the field. As a VC Radiology Insider subscriber, you can read this article before it is made available to our other members.

Among the conclusions so far, they've found that fecal tagging without digital subtraction rarely produces useable exams. There seem to be other limits to tagging as well. Could it be that when the CT values of the tagged background are too high, lesions can appear smaller than they are? Perhaps. Get the rest of the story, and the cool images, here.

Speaking of patient compliance, who knew that both beer and cannabinoids could potentially inhibit the development of colorectal cancers? As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Before you leave the Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community, you'll want to review the latest MR colonography research by the radiologists who pioneered MRC. In two new studies, Dr. Thomas Lauenstein and colleagues from University Hospital in Essen, Germany, discuss dark-lumen imaging and the choice of water versus air for distension.