How accurate is virtual colonoscopy compared to conventional colonoscopy?
A recent clinical trial conducted at Walter Reed Army Medical Center-Washington, D.C., National Navy Medical Center-Bethesda, MD and Navy Medical Center-San Diego, CA concluded that virtual colonoscopy is slightly more accurate than conventional colonoscopy in detecting significant colonic polyps. This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003. 1,233 screening patients for colon cancer were recruited and each patient underwent first virtual colonoscopy and within two hours underwent optical colonoscopy to compare results. The study compared the percentage of polyps found by both virtual colonoscopy and optical colonoscopy.
