Reported January 16, 2012
New Colonoscopy Device
STANFORD, CA (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- In the next twelve months, 150, 000 people will be told they have colorectal cancer and 50,000 will die from it. The worst part is most of these deaths could have been prevented if the cancer would have been detected sooner. Now, a new camera is giving doctors a better view to detect cancer before it becomes a killer.
Time on the driving range is time well spent for john reed and his son Zach. They’re learning the game together.
“Whenever we start off, he always hits in the woods, unless there’s a lake, then I hit it in the lake, not the woods, ” Zachery Reed, John Reed’s son, told Ivanhoe.
He may not be a straight shooter on the golf course, but when it comes to his health, john doesn’t fool around.
“It has to start somewhere in your family, and I didn’t want that to be me,” John Reed said.
John’s talking about colon cancer, and that’s why the 51 year old recently had his first colonoscopy.
John is one of the first patients to use a new FDA approved device that gives doctors another view to the traditional colonoscopy, It’s called third eye retroscope. A camera is snaked  through five feet of your colon to detect polyps that could be an early sign of cancer.
“It’s almost like a mushroom that grows inside the colon,” George Triadafilopoulos, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Stanford University School of Medicine, explained. “The issue of the colonoscopy, is that’s it’s not perfect all the time. Sometimes these small polyps grow behind the fold, and they’re not visualized at the time of the examination.”
The third eye fits through the traditional colonoscopy catheter. Instead of just a forward facing camera, another tip comes through the catheter revealing a backward facing camera with an LED light.
“It’s almost like having a rearview mirror in your car. As you drive forward, you can look through the mirror and see what’s behind you, so you don’t miss any spots,” Dr. Triadafilopoulos said.
If a polyp is found, it can be removed immediately during the procedure. A new study shows the device detects 41% more precancerous polyps for people who are at high risk and 23% more in people not at risk.
As for john, he was polyp free and can now concentrate on his game.
“Having a bad day doesn’t stress me out. It’s better than having to do other things, like have a colonoscopy,” John said.
It’s recommended that everyone start getting a colonoscopy at the age of 50. How often after that depends on your family history and cancer risk. MORE
More Information
Click here for additional research on New Colonoscopy Device
Click here for Ivanhoe's full-length interview with Dr. George Triadafilopoulos
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marsha Hitchcock at mhitchcock@ivanhoe.com
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