The study examined more than 1,000 individuals at risk for colorectal cancer and performed a virtual colonoscopy followed by a traditional, scope colonoscopy on each participant.
The virtual colonoscopies detected advanced neoplasia, the lesions most likely to become tumors if not removed, in 151 of the 177 total participants who were determined to have this condition with the standard colonoscopy. Additionally, the virtual colonoscopies detected cancer in 39 of the 41 total participants who had cancer.
According to the study, the slightly lower rate in detecting tumors and lesions by virtual colonoscopy “must be weighed against the higher drop-out rate reported during colonoscopy follow-up of postpolypectomy patients…the better acceptance and lower invasiveness of CT colonography might reduce this drop-out rate, thus making it an effective test for increasing in absolute terms the protective effect of postpolypectomy follow-up toward the development of colorectal cancer.”
Read the JAMA study on the effectiveness of virtual colonoscopy.
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