Dear AuntMinnie Member,
A new study that assessed the economic value of colorectal cancer screening techniques found that virtual colonoscopy offered the most cost-effective alternative, beating the current gold standard, optical colonoscopy.
Published in the journal Cancer, the study used a statistical model to predict the cost-effectiveness of various screening technologies in a hypothetical population, according to an article by staff writer Eric Barnes that we're featuring this week in our Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community.
The paper was authored by a multicenter research group, and led by virtual colonoscopy expert Dr. Perry Pickhardt from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
While the study found that the three main screening techniques (VC, optical colonoscopy, and flexible sigmoidoscopy) all produced a reduction in colorectal cancer incidence, virtual colonoscopy did so at the lowest cost per life year gained.
The study also addressed the thorny issue of polyp size -- namely, at what size polyps should be reported and followed up when detected on virtual colonoscopy. Based on their findings, the authors propose a screening model that could marry the cost-effectiveness of VC with the precision of optical colonoscopy. Find out what it is by clicking here.
In a related study, also published in Cancer, researchers from Texas explored the reasons for the disparity in colon cancer survival rates between black and white patients. They adjusted their studies for a number of factors to explain the discrepancy -- learn about what produced the strongest association by clicking here.
Get these stories and more in the Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community, available at vc.auntminnie.com.
