HDTV for Colonoscopies

Reported August 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- A colonoscopy is the gold standard for detecting colon cancer. Now, adding an HDTV signal and color change to the procedure could make the screening process more accurate in detecting the disease.

Like 70-million Americans, Kathy Chrisman suffers with digestive tract diseases. But she's learned to cope. "I do fairly well even with the 20-year history of medical problems," she says.

Chrisman's endured many colonoscopies to try and diagnose her illnesses, but hopefully today's will be her last. Her gastroenterologist is using a new endoscope combining HDTV technology and narrow-band imaging that uses blue light to see inside the colon in a whole new way.

"The blue light is an enhancement of the white light, because it provides greater detail of the lining of the intestine," Paul Yeaton, M.D., of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, tells Ivanhoe.

Traditional colonoscopies use white light to view the colon, but using blue light emphasizes features of the colon that are usually hard to see.

Dr. Yeaton says, "When we turn on the blue light, the blood vessels become much more prominent in their appearance, and the surface of the intestine -- the detail of that is also increased."

HDTV technology improves the view of the procedure.

"The benefit is to have a better diagnosis or the possibility of detecting some abnormal growth earlier," Dr. Yeaton says.

The new imaging technique helped Chrisman's doctor determine she has inflammation of the colon, a treatable problem caught just in time.

Narrow-band imaging with the blue is used in conjunction with traditional white light colonoscopies. Doctors have the ability to switch from white light to blue light when better-enhanced images are needed.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Paul Yeaton, M.D.
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
University of Virginia Digestive Health Center of Excellence
(434) 924-1653
py6z@virginia.edu

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