Study 'Validates' CT Scans for Colon Cancer Screening

Virtual colonoscopy -- colon cancer screening using CT scans -- finds 90% of large, precancerous polyps. The finding comes from 15 academic and community medical centers that performed both virtual colonoscopy (CT colonography) and traditional colonoscopy on 2,600 patients aged 50 and older. The study "validates" new guidelines endorsing virtual colonoscopy as a colon cancer screening option, says study leader C. Daniel Johnson, MD, professor of radiology at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The study showed that virtual colonoscopy was able to detect 90% of polyps 10 millimeters or more in diameter. That's the same accuracy reported for colonoscopy itself in other studies. Colonoscopy is, however, able to detect much smaller polyps. A downside of virtual colonoscopy is that it requires the same bowel prep (cleansing of the bowels) as a real colonoscopy. The study appears in the Sept. 18 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Bonnie - can we please put the issue to rest now? Insurance companies, if you are listening, please start covering virtuals! Doctors, if you are listening, please start offering this as an alternative to the traditional screening. Personally, I would always choose to go for the less invasive procedure, and in this case, it is a no-brainer.

FYI - a second study that appeared in NEJM, which involved 1,256 patients who had tested negative for growths, found that five years later, none of the patients had developed colon cancer. The study concluded that for patients with low-risk factors, a ten-year interval between screenings is sufficient, as opposed to the current recommendation for every 5.