Virtual Colonoscopy – Who Must Opt For It?

A new study points to the fact that virtual colonoscopy could be a satisfactory diagnostic option to conventional colonoscopy in some though not all patients that had more than normal risk of developing colorectal cancer.

The virtual colonoscopy procedure is a non-invasive diagnostic means that employs the use of X-rays and computers to created three dimensional imaging of the colon. In the lately printed study that was carried out in Italy was known to detect 85% of dubious growths in those individuals with higher risks for getting colorectal cancer.

However, in spite of the favourable outcome, cynics argue that virtual colonoscopy medically identified as CT or computed tomographic colonography is not the right choice for those people with elevated risks of getting colorectal cancer.

A major downside to virtual colonoscopy is that it could only diagnose growths thus needing yet another method for their removal. Conventional colonoscopy can both diagnose as well as remove abnormal growths in the same procedure.

A crucial point made was that elevated risk populace were far more prone to have dubious growths which would necessitate their removal. Hence, a mere detection-only approach such as CT colonoscopy in such population does not seem to be much sense.

The study carried out in Italy and Belgium was carried out on 937 candidates that had raised chances of developing colorectal cancer either due to close family past of the disease or a personal past of polyps that had been earlier eliminated or those with an affirmative outcome of the fecal occult blood test or FOBT – A test done to detect presence of blood in the stools.

Generally, virtual colonoscopy aided in identifying 151 from 177 persons that had growths of size six millimetres or more and accurately detected 667 from 760 individuals that did not have dubious growths.

In half of the candidates that had a latest positive fecal occult blood test(FOBT) had major growths which needed elimination, in comparison to the 7.5% of individuals that had a family past and eleven percent of individuals that had past lesions.

The study that is published in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’ elucidated the fact that persons with a positive FOBT are not apposite entrants for the virtual colonoscopy procedure. The procedure is additionally not suitable for those patients with IBS or irritable bowel disease or those people with a past of flat lesions that mostly go undetected during virtual colonoscopy. Though, CT colonoscopy is quite a good test, but not meant for everyone.

The day long, demanding bowel preparation is however needed in both the virtual colonoscopy as well as the conventional one which is something patients carp about the most.

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