ACRIN study endorses virtual colonoscopy
Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00 | 
| Company News - ACRIN |
MGT Capital Investments, Inc., an investment company focused on the healthcare information technology sector, announced that the ACRIN study endorses virtual colonoscopy for Medicsight PLC (subsidiary of MGT).
MGT Capital Investments, Inc., an investment company focused on the healthcare information technology sector, announced that the ACRIN study endorses virtual colonoscopy for Medicsight PLC (subsidiary of MGT). Medicsight PLC (AIM: MDST), developer of computer-aided detection (CAD) and image analysis software which assists in the early detection and diagnosis of disease, draws attention to the recent announcement of preliminary results of the National US Computerised Tomography (CT) Colonography Trial (ACRIN study 6664). The results are expected to lead to wider adoption of CT colonography (also known as virtual colonoscopy) as routine screening for colorectal cancer.
David Sumner, Chief Executive of Medicsight, said, "We welcome the results of this landmark study, confirming that CT colonography is a genuine and robust option in the armamentarium that physicians have at their disposal when screening for colorectal cancer. This is likely to lead to a material increase in the use of CT colonography for screening populations aged 50 or more who are most at risk of developing this devastating condition. Medicsight's ColonCAD(TM) software, which can be used with multi-detector CT imaging equipment, helps radiologists to interpret the CT scans and identify early- stage lesions. We expect the company and its CAD software to be an important beneficiary of this trend."
The US trial has compared the detection of polyps and early-stage cancer of the colon using either conventional optical colonoscopy or CT colonography, in which X-ray slice images are reconstructed by computer to provide a virtual image of the colon. This study, funded by the US National Institutes of Health, was initiated in 2005 and has involved more than 2,500 asymptomatic patients aged 50 or over at 15 centres across the US Patients were investigated using both procedures and the resulting CT images were read by a panel of radiologists. The headline results of the study, released at the ACRIN 2007 Fall Meeting in Arlington, Virginia, on September 28, demonstrate convincingly that CT colonography is at least as sensitive and specific as conventional colonoscopy in detecting adenomas of 1 cm diameter or larger.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the US. When colorectal cancer is detected early the survival rate is high. Those most at risk, aged 50 or older, are recommended to be screened regularly. However less than half actually undergo colonoscopy. Conventional optical colonoscopy, involving the insertion of a flexible metal tube into the colon, remains the 'gold standard' for detection of early-stage tumours, not least because tissue samples can be taken at the same time as they are visualised. However CT colonography is non-invasive, less uncomfortable for the patient and offers the potential of routine screening. The results of the ACRIN 6664 study are expected to lead to reimbursement for CT colonography by Medicare and health insurance companies and thereby drive wider adoption of this technique and increased levels of screening in the at-risk population.
Dr Stuart Taylor of University College Hospital, a principal investigator for Medicsight, commented: "This very well designed study is the largest to date which has specifically investigated the use of CT colonography to screen for colorectal neoplasia in asymptomatic individuals, and has produced very positive results. The 90 per cent sensitivity for identifying patients harbouring a 1 cm adenoma essentially validates the previously reported excellent performance of screening CT colonography by Dr Perry Pickhardt in 2003. I think we can now conclude that, when performed by appropriately trained readers, CT colonography is a viable and robust screening tool for colorectal cancer.
David Sumner, Chief Executive of Medicsight, said, "We welcome the results of this landmark study, confirming that CT colonography is a genuine and robust option in the armamentarium that physicians have at their disposal when screening for colorectal cancer. This is likely to lead to a material increase in the use of CT colonography for screening populations aged 50 or more who are most at risk of developing this devastating condition. Medicsight's ColonCAD(TM) software, which can be used with multi-detector CT imaging equipment, helps radiologists to interpret the CT scans and identify early- stage lesions. We expect the company and its CAD software to be an important beneficiary of this trend."
The US trial has compared the detection of polyps and early-stage cancer of the colon using either conventional optical colonoscopy or CT colonography, in which X-ray slice images are reconstructed by computer to provide a virtual image of the colon. This study, funded by the US National Institutes of Health, was initiated in 2005 and has involved more than 2,500 asymptomatic patients aged 50 or over at 15 centres across the US Patients were investigated using both procedures and the resulting CT images were read by a panel of radiologists. The headline results of the study, released at the ACRIN 2007 Fall Meeting in Arlington, Virginia, on September 28, demonstrate convincingly that CT colonography is at least as sensitive and specific as conventional colonoscopy in detecting adenomas of 1 cm diameter or larger.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the US. When colorectal cancer is detected early the survival rate is high. Those most at risk, aged 50 or older, are recommended to be screened regularly. However less than half actually undergo colonoscopy. Conventional optical colonoscopy, involving the insertion of a flexible metal tube into the colon, remains the 'gold standard' for detection of early-stage tumours, not least because tissue samples can be taken at the same time as they are visualised. However CT colonography is non-invasive, less uncomfortable for the patient and offers the potential of routine screening. The results of the ACRIN 6664 study are expected to lead to reimbursement for CT colonography by Medicare and health insurance companies and thereby drive wider adoption of this technique and increased levels of screening in the at-risk population.
Dr Stuart Taylor of University College Hospital, a principal investigator for Medicsight, commented: "This very well designed study is the largest to date which has specifically investigated the use of CT colonography to screen for colorectal neoplasia in asymptomatic individuals, and has produced very positive results. The 90 per cent sensitivity for identifying patients harbouring a 1 cm adenoma essentially validates the previously reported excellent performance of screening CT colonography by Dr Perry Pickhardt in 2003. I think we can now conclude that, when performed by appropriately trained readers, CT colonography is a viable and robust screening tool for colorectal cancer.
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Tags: MGT Capital Investments - Inc - Medicsight PLC - computer-aided detection CAD - Medicsight's ColonCAD - CT imaging equipment - ACRIN 2007 - CT colonography - X-ray - healthcare information technology
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