Cancer Society gives nod of approval to CT colonography.

The American Cancer Society and other medical groups are recommending computed tomography colonography as a screening option for colorectal cancer.

Although experts consider conventional colonoscopy to be the gold standard for colorectal cancer detection, in recent years CT colonography has emerged as a noninvasive screening alternative.

A group of medical organizations, including the ACS and the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer, recently released the first-ever joint consensus guidelines for colorectal cancer screening.

The group approved CT colonography at five-year intervals as a test for detecting colorectal polyps and cancer. The guideline will appear in the May/June issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

In making their recommendation, the researchers noted that CT colonography is a time-efficient procedure that produces good accuracy with minimal invasiveness. With CT colonography, patients can return to work on the same day as the examination.

The group cautioned that CT colonography has not been used long and, as a result, fewer data are available on its benefits, limitations and harms relative to other colorectal cancer screening tests.