Polypectomy (the surgical removal of polyps by colonoscopy) of small polyps found during CT colonography is costly and unnecessary according to a study performed at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, WI.

New research presented at the American College of Gastroenterology's 73rd Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando emphasizes the importance of adequate bowel preparation prior to colonoscopy, and highlights the remarkable effectiveness of colonoscopy in detecting and removing pre-cancerous polyps, particularly tiny, flat, potentially pre-cancerous growths in the colon known as "sessile serrated adenomas."

Patients who undergo a complete negative colonoscopy have a reduced incidence of colorectal cancer, confirms a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. However, in the proximal colon, the incidence reduction of colorectal cancer following complete negative colonoscopy differs in magnitude and timing.

If you have ever wanted to get a better look at Charles Barkley’s rear, now you can. The man with perhaps the worst golf swing in the history of the sport will have a colonoscopy on TV, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Barkley will have a colonoscopy on TV to promote awareness.

Researchers from Korea have found that technically efficient screening and diagnostic colonoscopy generally requires experience with 150 cases or more. The study appears in the April issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).

Patient interventions are necessary to achieve higher rates of colorectal cancer screening in low-income and minority patients, according to two studies in the current issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

A medical student places a chest tube in a patient lying on an operating table, while another student conducts a colonoscopy. Everything is just as it would be in a real OR or treatment room, except that the patients won’t be harmed or complain if mistakes are made – they’re robots.

African Americans who have multiple first-degree relatives with colon cancer are less likely than whites with affected relatives to undergo recommended screening procedures, according to a report in the March 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

At a time when several U.S. health insurers have discontinued payment for use of the sedative propofol during most screening colonoscopies, physicians at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that an alternative way to administer the drug could both save millions of health care dollars and provide a safer way to deliver optimal pain relief.

Aetna has announced that, based on input from the AGA Institute and discussions with a number of gastroenterologists, it will not implement Clinical Policy Bulletin 0740 on April 1, 2008, as planned.

Patients who have had a colonoscopy can play a life-saving role by encouraging other patients to follow through with their own colorectal cancer screenings, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

A pilot study from researchers at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, found that narrow band imaging (NBI) colonoscopy used in cancer surveillance for ulcerative colitis patients can identify flat dysplastic lesions. The research appears in the November issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.