STUDY ON VIRTUAL COLONOSCOPY

BACKGROUND Current options available in the investigations of colorectal carcinoma include screening using digital rectal examination, sigmoidoscopy, barium enema and fiberoptic colonoscopy, virtual colonoscopy. The aim of the study was to prospectively evaluate patient acceptance of virtual colonoscopy compared with that of conventional colonoscopy when performed in patients with or suspected of having colorectal disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study had been conducted on patients attending Department of Radiology for a period of 1 year. Patients with primary or secondary complaints of pain abdomen, lump in abdomen, bleeding per rectum, loose motions/constipation, altered bowel habits, loss of appetite and weight and anaemia, so total number of cases were 51. RESULTS In our study, the patients were in age groups of 21-70 years. Both sexes were represented in our study. Male preponderance was noted in 51 patients. Cases of adenoma were more commonly found 37 (72.78%). The sensitivity of the CT colonography for the polyps more than 10 mm is 100%, polyps 6-9 mm is 90%, less than 6 mm is 80%. Our study consists of 51 patients; among them, 30 patients showed acceptance for CT colonography, 10 patients for optical colonoscopy. Our study consists of 51 patients, the polyps (more than 10 mm) detected in 2D viewing were 24, 2D and 3D viewing of 24, the polyps (less than 10 mm) detected in 2D viewing were 15, 2D and 3D viewing were 17. 3D viewing resulted in increased sensitivity for identification of patients with larger polyps more than 1 cm, (70-85% sensitivity) and patients with smaller polyps less than 1 cm (increased sensitivity 75-88%). CONCLUSIONS Multislice CT (64) colonography is a good alternative to other colorectal screening tests because it has high sensitivity for polyps 10 mm or more in diameter is relatively safe, clinical effective, minimally invasive, cost effective and filter for therapeutic optical colonoscopy.