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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next >> In the computer simulation, all of these "patients" (over the age of 50) were screened for colon cancer once every decade for three decades, using either a standard colonoscopy, a flexible sigmoidoscopy, a virtual colonoscopy, or a combination thereof.
Polyp searches were based on one of two thresholds: those measuring 6 millimeters in diameter and up, and lesions of any size.
The model indicated that 2,940 patients would ultimately go on to develop colorectal cancer.
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The simulation also revealed that flexible sigmoidoscopy screenings reduced the rate of cancer by just over 31 percent, while traditional colonoscopy reduced the rate by just over 40 percent.
Virtual colonoscopies were only slightly less efficient than the traditional method -- achieving an almost 38 percent reduction when polyps of all sizes were considered. The prevention rate dropped slightly, to 36.5 percent, when screenings focused only on polyps 6 millimeters and up.
Virtual colonoscopy also had the added benefit of dramatically reducing the need for unnecessary polyp removal. Nearly 78 percent fewer patients went on to have an invasive polyp removal after a virtual screening compared with patients who underwent a regular colonoscopy.
And when virtual screenings focused solely on lesions 6 millimeters and up nearly 12,900 additional unwarranted polyp removals were avoided.
In terms of both preventing cancer and minimizing cost, the use of any screening method was better than no screening at all, the study found. However, virtual colonoscopy with a 6-millimeter polyp diameter threshold was by far the most cost-effective approach: Costs were less than half that of traditional colonoscopy when broken down by year of life saved. Even with no polyp size threshold, virtual colonoscopy still came in at more than 20 percent cheaper.
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