Colon Cancer Colon Cancer Basics

Is a Virtual Colonoscopy Just as Good as the Real Thing?

Avoiding a colonoscopy because of its uncomfortable invasiveness? A high-tech procedure may eliminate a lot of this discomfort while still giving your doctor a good peek inside.

Virtual colonoscopy combines a CT scan with computerized enhancement programs, and allows your doctor to take a tour of your colon, without the probes and sedation that are a part of a standard colonoscopy.

The technology has been available for several years, but insurance companies rarely covered the procedure, as they considered it to still be in its test phases. However, a new study provides evidence that a virtual colonoscopy may be just as accurate in finding and diagnosing the early signs of colon cancer.

A virtual colonoscopy requires patients to lie still on a platform as they are slowly moved through a CT scan. The images taken during the scan are combined by a computer to give doctors a virtual tour of the patient’s colon. Standard, optical colonoscopies require the patient to be sedated while a doctor uses a camera attached to long probe to capture images from inside the colon.

Regular colonoscopies are one of the most important tools in the fight against colon cancer. They have been credited for helping to increase the rate of early colon cancer diagnosis, thereby lowering the rate of death from this disease. So, if virtual colonoscopies are just as accurate as the standard procedure, it may just convince the estimated 60 percent of American adults over 50 who are not going for regular colonoscopies to get screened.

“Our goal is not to take patients away from existing strategies like optical colonoscopy, but rather to attract those who are currently not being screened at all,” said Dr. Perry J. Pickhardt, lead author of the study from the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

For the study, published in Radiology, Pickhardt and his colleagues performed virtual colonoscopies on over 1,100 men and women at an average age of 58. In about 6 percent of the participants, a standard colonoscopy was performed after the virtual one because the doctors found a questionable polyp, or growth, on the colon that could signal cancer. In 65 of these 71 patients, the regular colonoscopy confirmed the findings from the virtual procedure.

“Both virtual colonoscopy and optical colonoscopy are excellent screening tests,” said Pickhardt, who added that the advantages of virtual colonoscopies make it a good alternative for those squeamish of the standard procedure. “It is safer, faster, less costly, more convenient, involves an easier bowel prep and yet is just as effective for detecting important polyps and cancers,” he said.

Pickhardt hopes that more insurance companies choose to cover this procedure, and that the public becomes more informed about the potential importance of virtual colonoscopies.

“Since colorectal cancer is uniquely preventable, widespread colonoscopy screening could lead to a significant reduction in mortality from this deadly disease,” said Pickhardt.