Avantis Medical Systems said a new study confirms that detection of adenomas (pre-cancerous polyps) is significantly increased with the use of its Third Eye Retroscope device during colonoscopy procedures.
The study, "Improved Adenoma Detection Rate during Colonoscopy with Use of a Retrograde-Viewing Auxiliary Imaging Device (Sa1602)," concluded that colonoscopes supported by the retroscope device allowed detection of significantly more adenomas than the colonoscopes used alone.
The authors performed post-hoc subset analyses of data in a randomized, controlled trial from the previously-published Third Eye Retroscope Randomized Clinical Evaluation (TERRACE) study.
The overall results showed detection of 23.2% additional adenomas with the retrograde-viewing device.
Third Eye colonoscopy detected 35.7% additional adenomas in patients who previously had removed adenomas, which were identified by the same colonoscope used alone, while 55.4% additional adenomas were detected in patients undergoing diagnostic procedures.
University Medical Center Utrecht director of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Peter Siersema said these results confirm that the Third Eye Retroscope is very useful for finding additional adenomas during colonoscopy, and the reduced miss rate for large adenomas is especially important.
"By substantially enhancing the sensitivity of our examinations, use of the retrograde-viewing device will allow us to improve the clinical management of our patients," Siersema added.
"Especially for those who have increased risk for colorectal cancer, we can more accurately determine who should return for close surveillance and who can safely be examined at longer intervals."
Avantis Medical Systems CEO Rick Randall said regardless of their level of risk, patients who are informed about the Third Eye Retroscope device have expressed a great deal of interest in it.
"Patients who are undergoing surveillance are acutely aware of their increased risk for colorectal cancer and the possible consequences of missing large adenomas," Randall added.
"In the light of this new evidence, we anticipate that surveillance patients will be highly motivated to have their physicians use the device during their next colonoscopy procedures."