New Less-Invasive Technique for Colonoscopies

One of the major factors keeping people from getting routine colonoscopies is their discomfort with the current technique. Only about 50% of the people who should be receive routine screening for colon cancer actually schedule the procedure. This may be about to change due to the development of a new screening technique. Biomedical engineers have developed a thin fiber optic device that can be used to detect even the earliest signs of colon cancer.

The new fiber optic device is not only much thinner than current techniques, but it is also much less invasive. The device uses low-coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy to analyze tissue samples take just at the base of the colon. There is no longer a need to investigate the entire length of the colon. Although these cells as the base of the colon may have a normal phenotype, lesions or polyps located further into the colon will have an effect on them. Those cancerous cells will cause the cells at the base of the colon to experience molecular and other changes by a biological phenomenon called the "field effect." This relatively non-invasive and extremely accurate technique could mean great things for detecting colon cancer.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090609122228.htm