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Virtual colonoscopy - Risks

Alternative Names

Colonoscopy - virtual; CT colonography

What the risks are:

Radiation exposure
The medications to prepare for the test can cause nausea, vomiting, bloating, or rectal irritation.

Special considerations:

Differences between virtual and conventional colonoscopy include:

Both procedures can spot polyps that have reached a large, worrisome size. However, virtual colonoscopy is not as detailed as a conventional colonoscopy, and may miss polyps smaller than 10 millimeters in diameter or flat lesions.
If a polyp is found with virtual colonoscopy, the patient must have a conventional colonoscopy to remove the abnormality. Conventional colonoscopy allows for the immediate removal of polyps.
Virtual colonoscopy can view the colon from many different angles. This is not easy with conventional colonoscopy.
Virtual colonoscopy uses no sedation, and patients are usually able to resume normal activities immediately after the test. Conventional colonoscopy involves sedation, and usually the loss of a work day.

Virtual colonoscopy is now one of the American Cancer Society's recommended screening tools for colon cancer.

Reviewed last on: 3/8/2008
Christian Stone, MD, Division of Gastroenterology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Lieberman, D. Colonoscopy: as good as gold? Ann Intern Med. 2004;141:401-403.

Pickhardt P, et al. Location of adenomas missed by optical colonoscopy. Ann Intern Med. 2004;141:352-359.

Rosman AS, Korsten MA. Meta-analysis comparing CT colonography, air contrast barium enema, and colonoscopy. Am J Med. 2007;120(3):203-210.e.4.

Van Dam J, et al. AGA future trends report: CT colonography. Gastroenterology. 2004;127:970-984.

Virtual colonoscopy. Med Lett Drugs Ther. 2005;47(1202):15-16.

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