Avantis Medical Systems has presented feasibility study results of its new Third Eye Panoramic device for colonoscopy at Digestive Disease Week 2014 in Chicago.
New York Hospital Queens Gastroenterology division director, and Weill-Cornell Medical College Clinical Medicine associate professor Dr Moshe Rubin presented the results of study ‘Successful Deployment and Use of Third Eye Panoramic, a Novel Side Viewing Video Cap Fitted on a Standard Colonoscope’.
These results demonstrated that the use of the Third Eye Panoramic device along with a standard colonoscope improved visibility in areas behind folds in the colon wall. In addition the study has reported no adverse events.
The feasibility study involved 25 patients who were already scheduled to undergo colonoscopy at New York Hospital Queens.
For each patient, the Third Eye Panoramic device was attached to the colonoscope at the beginning of the procedure and provided additional views of the left and right sides to complement the forward view of the colonoscope.
Dr Rubin said that adding the Third Eye Panoramic cap to existing endoscopy equipment enables enhanced side-viewing imaging of the colon while preserving investments in one’s preferred endoscopic platform.
"We tested the device with a Fujifilm EC530-LS Slim Colonoscope but it is designed to be used with all of the major brands of colonoscopes sold in the US," Dr Rubin added.
Avantis has developed the new Third Eye Panoramic device to address the challenge of missing pre-cancerous polyps called adenomas and large adenomas.
According to Avantis, adenomas in blind spots behind numerous folds in the colon are easily missed, even with the most meticulous examination. Avantis claims that the new device, which is based on the technology that the company developed for its previous device Third Eye Retroscope, address this challenge.
Avantis Medical Systems Chief Medical Officer Dr Jack Higgins noted that the new Third Eye Panoramic device clips onto the outside of a colonoscope at its tip, leaving the instrument channel completely free for suctioning debris and for passing instruments.
"Also, because the Panoramic device can be disinfected and reused many times, its cost per procedure is very affordable. Last but not least, the new device is ‘scope agnostic,’ so choice of colonoscope system is left to the doctor," Dr Higgins added.
The Third Eye Panoramic device features two video cameras that are directed laterally from its left and right sides.
The video images are displayed on both sides of the colonoscope’s forward view, and their combined images on a single monitor result in a panoramic view that reveals areas behind folds and flexures (sharp turns) in the colon during both intubation and withdrawal.
Currently, the US Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the 510(k) application of the Third Eye Panoramic device and is not available for sale in the US.
Image: Avantis Medical Systems’ new Third Eye Panoramic device for colonoscopy. Photo: Courtesy of Marketwire/Avantis Medical Systems