3D MSCT colonography overcomes diverticulosis

Colonic diverticular disease won't spoil CT colonography as long as radiologists apply a 3D imaging approach, according to a study by University of Wisconsin researchers.

Colonic segments with significant diverticulosis make standard 2D imaging particularly challenging, said Dr. Perry J. Pickhardt, an associate professor of radiology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Pickhardt and colleagues enrolled 280 asymptomatic adults at average risk for colon cancer who underwent primary 3D CTC with 2D correlation followed by same-day standard colonoscopy. Although they found a very high prevalence of major diverticular disease in this population, it did not degrade 3D CTC's diagnostic performance. They also found the prevalence of polyps 6 mm and greater was higher in segments with considerable diverticular disease.