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| Medical Breakthroughs |
New colonoscopy procedure
Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital is the first facility in Houston to offer the Third EyeRetroscope, a technology that allows physicians to have a more complete view during colonoscopy exams and better identify abnormalities in the colon. Operating as a “rear-view mirror,” the Third Eye Retroscope helps to visualize potential blind spots in the colon that can be missed during a traditional colonoscopy. Physicians are now able to see between the folds of the colon wall where cancers, polyps and other abnormalities may be hiding.Recent studies show that the Third Eye Retroscope, when used in combination with standard colonoscopy devices, increased polyp detection by 13 percent. Moreover, the study suggested that while the Third Eye Retroscope is effective in detecting additional polyps in the left colon, it is 16.5 percent more effective in detecting additional lesions in the right colon compared to a standard colonoscopy without a Third Eye Retroscope. The Third Eye Retroscope has a distal tip diameter of just 3.5mm, which is so small that the device passes through the instrument channels of standard-size colonoscopies during a colonoscopy procedure, allowing the physician to see more of the colon and potentially find more lesions. “Although colonoscopy is currently considered the best method available for colorectal cancer screening, we know that lesions may be missed,” said Owen Maat, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital and Bellaire Center for Digestive and Liver Disease. “The Third Eye Retroscope is designed to solve that problem by making it possible for doctors to see areas once considered to be blind spots in the colon.” Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of cancer and the second greatest cause of cancer death in the U.S. and Europe. The American Cancer Society estimates that there were 156,970 new cases of CRC and 49,920 deaths due to CRC in 2009. However, these new cases and deaths do not have to happen, because most cancers of the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract can be successfully treated if detected early. non-invasive organ detection method
Researchers at the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital successfully tested a new method to profile genetic markers in the blood as a way to monitor the risk of organ rejection in heart transplant patients. The method, known as AlloMap, would replace part of a progression of biopsy procedures for transplant patients with a simple, non-invasive blood test. Endomyocardial biopsy has been the primary method of monitoring for rejection. Heart transplant recipients typically undergo 15 to 20 biopsies in the first six months following transplantation, and two to four biopsies per year after that. Biopsies are invasive and associated with discomfort, inconvenience and low but definite risks of complications and death. Each biopsy can cost $4,000 or more. The AlloMap procedure is designed to analyze the expression of certain genetic markers in a transplant patient’s bloodstream and, with the help of other screenings by physicians, identify patients with low risk of organ rejection at the time of the testing. On average, more than 2,000 heart transplants are performed each year across the United States.
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