Brigham and
Women's Hospital in
Boston, Mass.
Dr. Margolin
agrees that improv-
ing endoscope tech-
nology will have a
clear benefit in ther-
apeutic modalities,
which are letting
surgeons excise big-
ger polyps, remove
smaller cancers
safely and perform
other interventions such as colorectal stenting and endoscopic sub-
mucosal of the colon.
Data-driven diagnostics
Some believe that computer-aided diagnosis that assesses lesions in
real time will help GI docs find more polyps. As physicians move the
scope through the colon, algorithms characterize polyps and highlight
growths docs might have otherwise missed, says Dr. Traverso, who
likens computer-aided diagnosis to using narrow-band imaging to
decide if he should remove a growth.
Dr. Karnes is involved in using artificial intelligence to improve
ADR. He helped start a database of real-time quality data collected
from thousands of colonoscopies that includes images and pathology
of every polyp detected. "We know which physicians removed polyps
and how they removed them," he says. "We also know the quality of
the prep and indication for the procedure."
6 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 8
• ONE AND DONE Single-use scopes eliminate the cost and variability of reprocessing devices that can be difficult to clean
and disinfect.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
