Deciding whether small colon polyps were adenomas or less dangerous hyperplastic ones can be done safely during the colonoscopy exam itself.  Avoiding the need for an additional pathology test could make diagnosis faster and less expensive.

Adenomas have the potential to develop into colorectal cancer, but not all colon polyps are adenomas.  Standard procedure is to remove all polyps seen during a colonoscopy and send them to the pathology lab for testing.   However, doctors in London were able to accurately predict which polyps were adenomas more than 9 out of 10 times with colonoscopy alone. Read the rest of this entry »

ACG Annual Meeting 2009 Brief Reports

The American College of Gastroenterology held its Annual Scientific Meeting in San Diego from October 23 – 28, 2009 in San Diego.  Research reported during the meeting included how videorecordings of colonoscopy improved quality tests, the effectiveness of a drug that reduces constipation from opiate drugs, and support for guidelines that call for screening colonoscopy beginning at age 40 for people with a family history of colorectal cancer. Read the rest of this entry »

In research this week Japanese surgeons report very good outcomes when lung tumors from colorectal cancer tumors can be completely removed, colonoscopies done in the morning find more polyps, and high levels of vitamin D in the blood predict better survival after colorectal cancer diagnosis.

US life expectancy reached a record high in 2007 according to the CDC.   A veteran treated at the Miami VA Health Center is suing the US government because of HIV infection allegedly contracted during a colonoscopy. Read the rest of this entry »

Results from two colonoscopies three years apart gave better information about whether a high-risk polyp would be found on a third exam than results from the second test alone.

Even if a second colonoscopy, done three years after the first, showed no adenomas at all, 8 in 100 study participants with high-risk polyps on their first exam had developed a high-risk polyp by six years when they had a third colonoscopy. Read the rest of this entry »

Even after problems were found with how endoscopes were cleaned at three Veterans Administration medical centers earlier this year, surprise inspections found that over half additional VA medical facilities visited could not demonstrate compliance with proper procedures for safely cleaning endoscopes after each use.

A report revealing the extent of problems from the VA Office of the Inspector General was discussed during a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation on July 16, 2009.

Congress member Steven Buyer, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, who requested the meeting to review the report said:

I asked for the InspectorGeneral to become involved after the Miami incident, because I suspected the problem was systemic. Now that we know it is, I am deeply concerned that this problem is expansive and it goes well beyond VA. What is happening at HHS and the Department of Defense? What is happening in our greater health system?

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