FDA Gastroenterology, Radiology Advisors Finally Agree: CT Colonography Benefits Outweigh Risks

Article preview from Medtech Insight - September 27, 2013

New research findings presented at a joint meeting of FDA’s gastroenterology and radiological devices panels persuaded experts that CT colonography is safe and works well for screening adults over 50 for colorectal cancer.

FDA Gastroenterology, Radiology Advisors Finally Agree: CT Colonography Benefits Outweigh Risks

Article preview from Medtech Insight - September 27, 2013

Radiologists and gastroenterologists reviewing the latest research findings on the risks and benefits of computed tomography colonography (CTC) at a joint FDA advisory panel meeting September 9 stopped their squabbling over whether the newer technology is superior to optical colonoscopy (OC) to unanimously agree that the benefits of CTC for colorectal cancer screening outweigh the risks.

The agency brought together advisors from its Gastroenterology-Urology Devices Panel and Radiological Devices Panel to evaluate the benefits of CTC for screening of asymptomatic patients, including its potential to increase screening rates, and to look over the safety issues, including risks from radiation exposure and extracolonic findings. 

Previously, gastroenterologists and radiologists have sparred over which technology is the best tool to find colorectal cancers – the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US – in asymptomatic patients. But at the September 9 panel meeting, the medical advisors seemed ready to work together, based on the most recent research.

“This is a joint effort between radiologists and gastroenterologists. We are not at war with each other; we are here to serve the patient,” Douglas Coldwell, MD, PhD, a professor of radiology at University of Louisville, said during the meeting at FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.

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