Dear AuntMinnie Insider,
Virtual colonoscopy research has accomplished much since 1994, when Dr. David Vining navigated the first fly-through of a patient's colon, accompanied by Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," at the Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists (SGR) annual meeting in Hawaii.
One thing researchers haven't done much of, however, is follow patients with negative VC results over time -- a key test of the effectiveness of most any screening exam. That gap has now been bridged with a new study from the University of Wisconsin, presented in March at the SGR's Abdominal Radiology Course in Carlsbad, CA.
Researchers followed more than 1,000 virtual colonoscopy screening patients over five years to determine how many interval cancers appeared after negative VC. Get the surprising answer in this issue's Insider Exclusive, brought to you before it appears on our general site.
Another study suggests that some adults won't get screened any other way but VC. Researchers from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, surveyed large numbers of patients who had undergone virtual colonoscopy to find that nearly a quarter were hesitant to consider another colon screening test, and some said they'd refuse colonoscopy outright. Get the details here.
It follows that if some adults would refuse conventional colonoscopy, a higher percentage of eligible adults might get screened at centers that offer virtual. Higher screening volumes do seem to be happening because of VC, according to stories you'll find here and here.
But if facilities expect to draw large numbers of eligible adults and coax them into returning for their next exam five years later, they'll need to provide the infrastructure and collaborative clinical space to support it. Click here to find out the most important elements in a radiology-gastroenterology collaboration.
Gastroenterology certainly needs the help. Colonoscopy practitioners tire as the day goes on, missing more polyps. And some patients are coming in for too many colonoscopies. Is radiology ready?
Be sure to scroll down for more news from down under, right here in your Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community.
