New Colonoscope Provides Ground-Breaking View Of Colon

ORLANDO, Fla., May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A ground-breaking advance in colonoscopy technology  signals the future of colorectal care, according to research presented today at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW).

Doctors use a device called a colonoscope to examine the colon for precancerous polyps called adenomas. A study featuring a new colonoscope that allows doctors to see more of the colon holds promising results for colorectal cancer screening.

The adenoma miss rate using the new colonoscope was only 7.6 percent compared to 41.7 percent for the traditional colonoscope, researchers found.    

"It's always our goal to minimize miss rates," said Professor Ian M. Gralnek of the Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and senior physician at the department of gastroenterology, Rambam Health Care Campus and Elisha Hospital in Haifa, Israel. "These results show us a way to achieve that and improve the efficacy of colorectal cancer screening."

Developed by EndoChoice, the Full Spectrum Endoscopy (FUSE) colonoscope maintains the identical technical features of the standard colonoscope, but allows the endoscopist to view 330 degrees, compared to the 170 degree viewing angle of the traditional colonoscope.

The study, funded by EndoChoice, randomly assigned 197 patients for tandem colonoscopies using either the standard or the FUSE colonoscope first. In addition to a significantly lower adenoma miss rate, results showed a significantly higher adenoma detection rate favoring FUSE.

The additional information FUSE provides to doctors may allow them to adjust patients' surveillance intervals according to risk level, ultimately helping to prevent incremental colorectal cancers. The FUSE scope could be available as early as this summer.

Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) is the largest international gathering of physicians, researchers and academics in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. Jointly sponsored by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) and the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), DDW takes place May 18 to 21, 2013, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL. The meeting showcases more than 5,000 abstracts and hundreds of lectures on the latest advances in GI research, medicine and technology. www.ddw.org

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SOURCE Digestive Disease Week