Access to VC promoted as tool to increase screening

Jul 8, 2010

Echoing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's call for additional colon cancer screening tools, advocates for virtual colonoscopy are calling for increased support for noninvasive procedures such as VC (also known as CT colonography or CTC) to help increase colon cancer screening rates.

The CTC Working Group, a lobbying group of physician providers, patient advocates, and imaging equipment manufacturers, said it is encouraged by a rise in screening rates from 52% in 2002 to 63% in 2008. But more needs to be done to reduce the number of people who die needlessly each year from colon cancer, a disease the group called "one of the most preventable, detectable, and curable types of cancer when caught through recommended screening."

"CT colonography is a way to increase screening rates. Study after study has proven its potential to expand screening to people that otherwise would not be screened," said James Thrall, MD, chair of the American College of Radiology Board of Chancellors, in a statement. "The bottom line is that millions of Americans are continuing to forgo screening with traditional colonoscopy. Virtual colonoscopy can be a lifesaving option for those people because it is just as effective as traditional colonoscopy but is less expensive, minimally invasive, requires no sedation, and has fewer potential complications."

Screening rates are especially low among certain populations including African-Americans and Hispanics, as well as those with low income and education or without health insurance.

American Cancer Society statistics estimate that more than 51,000 Americans will die of colon cancer this year, and nearly 103,000 new cases will be diagnosed. Colorectal cancer is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., despite having a 90% cure rate when detected early, the working group said.

The multicenter ACRIN trial, published in 2008 the New England Journal of Medicine, found VC to be comparable to optical colonoscopy, the group noted in its statement.

"It's time we employ all the tools we have to fight this disease and save lives," said Dave Fisher, CTC Working Group member and executive director of the advocacy group Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance.

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VC gets long-awaited reporting standards, November 2, 2005