Brief class on easy-to-miss precancerous polyps ups detection, study shows

January 8, 2013 in Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Most people know a colonoscopy requires some preparation by the patient. Now, a Mayo Clinic physician suggests an additional step to lower the risk of colorectal cancer: Ask for your doctor's success rate detecting easy-to-miss polyps called adenomas.

The measure of success is called the adenoma detection rate, or ADR, and has been linked to a reduced risk of developing a new after the . The current recommended national benchmark is at least 20 percent, which means that an endoscopist should be able to detect in at least 1 of 5 patients getting a colonoscopy.

Recently, the Mayo Clinic in Florida developed a two-hour course designed to increase a doctor's ADR rate in order to reduce development of colorectal cancer.

They found the short course made a big difference in even experienced endocopsists, the who perform colonoscopies.

"Numerous studies have shown that increased detection and removal of potentially lowers the incidence of colorectal cancer," says Michael Wallace, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic in Florida. "We also know that there is a lot of variability in how proficient physicians are at finding those ."

A team of Mayo physicians and researchers led by Dr. Wallace, has long been working to help endoscopists better detect polyps. Their findings are published in the Jan. 8 online issue of the .

Dr. Wallace and his team developed a two-hour training course that describes polyps that can be difficult to see, such as flat , but are often the most dangerous.

The research team turned to Mayo Clinic endoscopists to study whether the course helps. Researchers first looked at the adenoma detection rate in 15 physicians and found it was 35 percent—almost twice the national average.

Then, seven endoscopists were randomly chosen to take the course, and detection rate was then measured in all of the endoscopists—those who took the course and the eight who didn't. Over the course of the study, these physicians performed 2,400 colonoscopies.

The researchers found that the endoscopists who took the course improved their adenoma detection rate to 47 percent, while the rate remained 35 percent among the doctors who did not take the course.

"This relatively simple education program substantially increased the proficiency of physicians who are already skilled," Dr. Wallace says. "Many people in the field think it is hard to change an endoscopist's level of proficiency, but we show that is not the case."

Dr. Wallace is now seeking to test the benefit of the short training course in a wider range of non-academic, community-based physicians—the doctors who perform most colonoscopies.

The study was funded by Mayo Clinic.

Journal reference: American Journal of Gastroenterology search and more info website

Provided by Mayo Clinic search and more info website

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Swine flu pandemic of 2009 more deadly for younger adults, study finds

As the world prepares for what may be the next pandemic strain of influenza virus, in the H7N9 bird flu, a new UC Irvine study reveals that the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic was deadliest for people under the age of 65, while ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 18 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Polio cases found in Kenya and Somalia, WHO says

The World Health Organization says the Horn of Africa is experiencing an outbreak of polio with cases confirmed in Kenya and Somalia.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 18 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

SARS-like virus claims new life in Saudi

A man who had contracted the coronavirus has died in Saudi Arabia, raising the death toll in the kingdom from the SARS-like virus to 17, the health ministry announced on its website on Wednesday.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 18 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Novel approach for influenza vaccination shows promise in early animal testing

A new approach for immunizing against influenza elicited a more potent immune response and broader protection than the currently licensed seasonal influenza vaccines when tested in mice and ferrets. The vaccine ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 19 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mild hypothyroidism raises mortality risk among heart failure patients

Patients with underlying heart failure are more likely to experience adverse outcomes from mild hypothyroidism, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created 21 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Major human drug trial underway for Alzheimer's

A potentially ground-breaking human drug trial is currently underway, which aims to discover whether blood pressure medication can slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). This is the latest ...

Pay attention: How we focus and concentrate

Scientists at Newcastle University have shed new light on how the brain tunes in to relevant information.

New discovery in fight against deadly meningococcal disease

Professor Michael Jennings, Deputy Director of the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University, was part of an international team that discovered the previously unknown pathway of how the bacterium colonizes people.

Are kids who take music lessons different from other kids?

(Medical Xpress)—Research by U of T Mississauga psychology professor Glenn Schellenberg reveals that two key personality traits – openness-to-experience and conscientiousness—predict better than IQ ...

Study reveals active site of enzyme linked to stuttering

(Medical Xpress)—Scientists from the Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have determined the 3-D structure of the chemically active part of an enzyme involved ...

Researchers identify networks of neurons in the brain that are disrupted in psychiatric disease

Studying the networks of connections in the brains of people affected by schizophrenia, bipolar disease or depression has allowed Dr. Peter Williamson, from Western University, to gain a better understanding of the biological ...