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VIDEO: Expert discusses current issues in colonoscopic colorectal cancer screening
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SAN FRANCISCO — Douglas K. Rex, MD, MACP, MACG, FASGE, AGAF, from Indiana University School of Medicine, discusses his presentation on novel endoscopic approaches in colorectal cancer screening, which he delivered at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
“We don’t right now have randomized controlled trial evidence that colonoscopy works, but we’ve got a lot of evidence now that it’s effective,” Rex said. “Things are not quite perfect because we don’t do as well in the right side of the colon as we do in the left side … but there’s some bright spots. We’ve seen evidence that a negative colonoscopy can be protective for longer than 20 years, so if [endoscopists] have very high adenoma detection rates, it’s conceivable that we could, for some of the population, actually see that … old goal of having once or twice in a lifetime colonoscopy be protective against colon cancer — that could become a reality.”
Disclosure: Rex reports honoraria from Boston Scientific; consulting or advisory roles for Boston Scientific, Covidien, Endo-Aid, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, Olympus and Paion; and research funding from Boston Scientific and Olympus.