SAN DIEGO — Preliminary data from two studies suggest that the Third Eye Retroscope may improve polyp detection during colonoscopy by 15%-20%.
The Third Eye Retroscope is a disposable device inserted through the instrument channel of a conventional colonoscope after intubation to the cecum. The tip of the Retroscope bends 180 degrees so that the camera and an integrated light source can be directed back toward the tip of the colonoscope.
During the withdrawal phase of colonoscopy, a split-screen display gives the colonoscopist both a conventional camera view and a continuous retrograde view from the Retroscope camera.
The device can help find lesions located on the proximal aspect of flexures or haustral folds, Dr. Daniel C. DeMarco said at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.
In a nonrandomized study with no control group, 17 physicians at nine U.S. institutions each examined 20 patients (total of 340 patients) by colonoscopy plus the Third Eye Retroscope and were asked to judge whether each lesion they found could have been detected by the colonoscope alone or was only seen because they were using the Third Eye.
Of the 209 polyps found, the investigators estimated that 182 could have been detected with a conventional colonoscope and that the Third Eye yielded an additional 27—a 15% increase in the detection rate. Of the 116 adenomas found, they estimated that 100 would have been seen by conventional colonoscopy and 16 (16%) would have been seen only by the Third Eye, said Dr. DeMarco of Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas.
In a separate poster, A.M. Leufkens, Ph.D., and associates reported preliminary data from an ongoing prospective study that randomizes patients to get two exams by the same colonoscopist during the same period of sedation—either a standard colonoscopy followed by one with the Third Eye, or an exam with the Third Eye first, followed by regular colonoscopy.
Data on 126 of a planned 410 subjects show that endoscopists missed 2.6 times more polyps using the colonoscope alone than they did with the Third Eye as an adjunct to the colonoscope, reported Dr. Leufkens of University Medical Center, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
In 63 patients who had regular colonoscopy first, 55 polyps were found on the first exam; the second exam with the Third Eye yielded 18 additional polyps for an “additional detection rate” of 32.7%. In 63 patients who were examined first with the Third Eye, 56 polyps were found initially; the second exam by colonoscopy alone yielded 7 more polyps for an additional detection rate of 12.5%. Both studies were funded by the company that makes the Third Eye Retroscope, Avantis Medical Systems. One of Dr. Leufkens' associates is on the company's advisory board.
The device can help find lesions located on the proximal aspect of flexures or haustral folds.
Source DR. DEMARCO