Treated in its early stages, injuries over the years can turn into colon cancer can be cured in 100% of cases. Even so, it is estimated that in Argentina each year are diagnosed 10,000 cases of this disease that kills 5700 Argentina during the same period.
Over 60% of cases, people are diagnosed with colon cancer when they are already in advanced stages of disease and the chances of cure are lower. The discomfort is conventional colonoscopy is one of the factors that alienates patients from early diagnosis. "Many people do not do the routine check, which should be done once every 10 years, after serving 50 years of age, or age 40 if family history, for fear of conventional colonoscopy, which require anesthesia and sedation ", La Nacion said Dr. Patricia Carrascosa, professor seconded from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and head of the Department of Diagnostic Computed Tomography Maipú.
Dr. Carrasco is an expert in the practice of virtual colonoscopy, diagnostic method as effective as conventional, but much less invasive. "Unlike conventional colonoscopy, the virtual does not require anesthesia or sedation, and general lack of complications such as infections or perforations," said Carrasco, who added that its main limitation is that only a diagnostic function and not as conventional therapy (during which he may do the removal of polyps). How is virtual colonoscopy? "Like the conventional, but for now, requires preparation the day before the person takes laxatives to cleanse the bowel," said Carrasco. That within a couple of months it will no longer be needed when we implement software that, along with a dye that the person eats, the images allows to remove the intestinal contents. "Full Display
The capture of images through a scanner is done in seconds. "You need to place a tube into the rectum to allow the colon insufflation, which is painless, with only 5 mm is introduced," said the expert. Then asks the person to hold your breath during the 10-20 seconds it takes to obtain images with the scanner. "As the study did not require sedation or anesthesia, you may return to normal activities immediately after the study was conducted . One of the common uses of virtual colonoscopy are the cases where the conventional is not completed, what happens in between 10 and 15% of cases. In addition, said Dr. Carrascosa, currently has programs that allow us to observe the colon fully deployed, as if extended on a plane, preventing it has blind spots which can not be seen. In conventional colonoscopy and the virtual lack of such software, which allows the "opening of haustral" - can be 10% of the colon without being.
In Argentina, the virtual colonoscopy is almost exclusively within the private medical sector. The cost of these studies is around 800 pesos, but social work and prepaid medicine companies, with varying degrees of reluctance, usually cover it.
