Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the US. However when detected early the survival rate is high. Those most at risk, aged 50 or older, are recommended to be screened regularly. However as the conventional optical colonoscopy procedure, involving the insertion of a flexible metal tube into the colon is very uncomfortable less than half actually undergo colonoscopy. CTC scanning, which Medicsight has honed with its superior ColonCAD(TM) software, offers patients with an alternative routine screening method for early detection, which is non-invasive and more comfortable.
The guidelines, titled Screening and Surveillance for the Early
Detection of Colorectal Cancer and Adenomatous Polyps, 2008, were jointly
released by the ACS, the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal
Cancer, and the American College of Radiology. Under these guidelines the
accepted testing options for the early detection of colorectal cancer
include the following:
-- CTC (recommended every five years);
-- colonoscopy (recommended every 10 years);
-- flexible sigmoidoscopy (recommended every five years);
-- double contrast barium enema (recommended every five years);
-- annual guaiac fecal occult blood testing (gFOBT); and
-- annual faecal immunochemical test (FIT).
The ACS decision to add CTC to the guidelines is based on the outcomes
of recent large clinical studies confirming that CTC is comparable to
optical colonoscopy for detecting cancer and polyps of significant size
when state-of- the-art techniques are applied. Positive clinical studies
published in recent months include the National CT Colonography Trial
(ACRIN 6664), research from the University of Wisconsin Medical School in
Madison published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the IMPACT trial
from Italy, and the Munich Colorectal
'/>"/>
| SOURCE MGT Capital Investments, Inc. Copyright©2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved |