Polyps revealed on a virtual colon voyage: Three-dimensional colonoscopy reduces discomfort

In the western world, colon cancer is the second-largest cause of death from cancer. Since there is a considerable risk that polyps five millimetres and more in diameter may develop into malicious tumours, it is important that they can be detected at an early stage. Until now, this is done by means of an endoscope through the anus. Inserting and manoeuvring an endoscope causes considerable discomfort to the patient, and the endoscope camera may not cover the entire colon wall. Researchers at TU Delft have succeeded in making virtual endoscopy, a process that enables a physician to travel on a virtual voyage through the intestine, suitable for large-scale screening. The process not only provides doctors with a 360 view of the intestine, and allows them to make the diagnosis in less than half the usual time, it may also reduce the amount of radiation to which the patient is exposed. In addition, the researchers have found a method of digitally removing faecal residue from the intestinal images to improve the view of the intestinal wall. Virtual screening not only reduces the discomfort to the patient, it might also dramatically improve the polyp detection rate. In future applications, the process of detecting human polyps will even be supported by automatic pattern recognition software