INTESTINE Vol.5 No.2(2-4)

Theme Average-risk colon cander screening
Title Virtual colonoscopy for mass screening of colorectal neoplasia
Publish Date 2001/03
Author Toshihiro Ogura Department of Radiology, Cancer Institute Hospital
Author Koichi Koizumi Department of Internal Medicine, Cancer Institute Hospital
Author Kazuaki Takatsu Department of Radiology, Cancer Institute Hospital
[ Summary ] We conducted research on three-dimensional (3D)-CT-colonography with single and multi-slice helical CT scanning. The fly through system of virtual colonoscopy is noteworthy for colorectal mass screening. With this virtual colonoscopy it is possible to advance confidently into the digestive tract, except in cases of tortuous colons, and turn about quickly at the end of the digestive tract and head back the way we have come, by using the round trip method. This method could materially reduce the non-visualized areas between the haustra of the colon. However, sometimes with virtual colonoscopy, it is difficult to distinguish polyps from feces. This problem is mostly avoided by using the axial image paging method, by which we can obtain information about intraluminal orientation of focal abnormalities. We think a combination of the fly through system and the axial image paging method might be applied for realistic examination, as a screening method for colorectal neoplasia. However, this screening system requires a great deal of time. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a Computer-aided Diagnosis (CAD) system for colorectal neoplasia as soon as possible. With progress in the CAD for colorectal neoplasia, we believe that a combined fly through and CAD system might be applied in the future for first line mass screening examination.
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