Study: Colonoscopy Misses Significant Number of Very Small Polyps

Colonoscopy is the leading method of finding colon cancers, but it misses a significant number of very small polyps which can be precancerous, according to Medical University of South Carolina researchers.

The researchers, in an effort to evaluate the colonoscopy miss-rate, examined sections of the colon that had been removed from patients with colorectal cancer and compared their findings to what had been found during the patients' colonoscopies.

They reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology that they found 73 synchronous lesions in the sections of the colon that had been removed from patients, of which 56 had been detected by colonocopies.

The researchers said that 14 of the 17 missed lesions (82 percent) were polyps smaller than 1 cm, and two cancers had been missed.

"Colonoscopy is an effective method of finding cancers and polyps, but it is associated with significant miss rates for polyps smaller than 1 cm," the researchers concluded. "The entire bowel should be carefully evaluated to exclude synchronous tumors in patients with known colorectal cancer. Further improvement of colonoscopic techniques and technologies is warranted."

Other Sources: American Journal of Gastroenterology