your doctors that ease can help boost your center's cecal intubation
rates, which guidelines stipulate should be at 95%, says Dr. Weine.
If you're interested in investing in 3D imaging technology, an exam-
ple is the ScopeGuide by Olympus. If you're looking into scope caps,
the Endocuff by Olympus or the EndoRing by EndoAid are 2 exam-
ples.
Visualization
In addition to helping with maneuverability, scope caps can also
increase visualization during a procedure. When the cap is attached
and the scope is inserted, the cap's projections or rings flatten and
smooth out folds in the mucosa, making it easier for doctors to see
the proximal side of colonic folds.
"All doctors here use them. It did flare out the colon and push out
the walls to smooth them out," says Solomon Reed, senior GI techni-
cian for the Advanced Surgery Center in Rockville, Md. The "flat wall"
— as Mr. Reed calls it — of mucosa makes it easier for doctors to see
any polyps that might otherwise be hidden behind a fold.
Researchers have tested the benefits of the different kinds of caps
with regards to adenoma detection. Some researchers have said the
introduction of the scope caps with the finger-like projections has
increased ADRs by 28% to 36% in the United States, says Dr. Weine.
In a study completed on 116 patients in 2015, researchers found that
the AMR (adenoma miss rate) was 10.4% when doctors used the cap
with the flexible rings, versus 48.3% when they completed a standard
colonoscopy.
For some doctors, the most useful visualization devices are not
add-ons but rather high-definition features already built into the
more recent versions of some colonoscopes. The features, which
are produced by different scope companies, have subtle differ-
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