in image quality and maneuverability. We have to ask, are they benefi-
cial to patients' lives?" says Samir Parikh, MD, FACS, FASCRS, who
practices at the Riddle Surgical Center in Media, Pa. "Wider-angle
scopes are where we are beginning to see a difference. You can see
everything. The question then becomes, what are you finding? Tiny
polyps that are not as important as the larger pre-cancerous polyps?
It's nice to detect more things, but are they only benign things that
you're detecting?"
As they wait for evidence, physicians often find themselves perfect-
ing an existing technique with existing technology, like Dr. Fayyaz.
"I'm not getting faster, I'm going slower," he says of his average 10-
minute, 13-second withdrawal time. "If you spend more time looking,
you will find more things." And watching the horizon for the next
next-big-thing, like Dr. Davidoff, who at a recent American College of
Gastroenterology conference was given a private glimpse of a proto-
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O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2 0 1 5
Hamilton
(N.J.)
Endoscopy
&
Surgery
Center
z LOOKING AND FINDING
Are technological advances or
a meticulous technique the key
to increased detection, asks
Imran Fayyaz, MD.