Published online Apr 28, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i16.1962
Peer-review started: February 3, 2020
First decision: February 27, 2020
Revised: March 26, 2020
Accepted: April 17, 2020
Article in press: April 17, 2020
Published online: April 28, 2020
Processing time: 84 Days and 17.8 Hours
Due to its inverse association with the incidence of interval colorectal cancer (CRC), the adenoma detection rate (ADR) serves as a key benchmark criterion for quality assessment in screening and surveillance colonoscopy worldwide. In this regard it has been shown that a 1% increase of the ADR results in a decrease of interval CRC incidence by 3%. At the same time, colonic neoplasia can frequently be missed during screening colonoscopy with miss rates for adenomas reaching up to 26% and human error as well as blind spots are considered the major factors contributing to these high miss rates.
Among the various means to limit miss rates, simple modification of standard colonoscopy such as change of patients’ position, appliance of abdominal compression or a second inspection of the colon in either standard forward view (SFV) or retroflected view (RFV) have shown to improve ADR. The latter has been addressed by several studies and although it has been shown that a second inspection in SFV or RFV can significantly increase ADR, these studies have utilized second inspection predominantly in the right sided colon. Within this study we therefore analyzed whether additional inspection of the whole colon in RFV can increase ADR compared to an additional inspection in SFV.
In this study we aim to assess whether inspection of the whole colon in RFV compared to standard forward view SFV can increase ADR.
To address the question whether additional retrograde inspection of the whole colon can significantly increase ADR, we designed this study as prospective randomized back-to-back trial, in which patients were randomized used sealed envelopes into the following arms: (1) RFV arm: Colonoscopy was initially performed with SFV, followed by a second inspection of the whole colon in RFV; and (2) SFV arm: Colonoscopy was initially performed with SFV, followed by a second inspection of the whole colon again with SFV. Insertion time as well as withdrawal times in every segment under either SFV or RFV were recorded using a stop watch and all polyps and adenomas found were removed using either cold- or hot-snare polypectomy.
205 patients were randomly assigned to the RFV (n = 101) and SFV (n = 104) arm. In the RFV arm, both polyp detection rate (PDR) and ADR were increased under second inspection in RFV. Likewise, in the SFV arm, PDR and ADR also increased under second inspection and importantly, no significant differences in ADR and PDR between the SFV and RFV arm were found. Consistent with this, the mean number of adenomas per patient (APP) was increased in both, the RFV and SFV (APP RFV arm: 1st SFV: 1.71; 2nd RFV: 2.38; APP SFV arm: 1st SFV: 1.83, 2nd SFV: 2.2). The majority of adenomas additionally found during second inspection in RFV or in SFV were located in the transverse and left-sided colon and were > 5 mm in size.
Second inspection of the whole colon in either standard forward view or retroflected view leads to increased adenoma detection with no significant differences between these two inspections modalities. Hence, increased detection is most likely a feature of the second inspection itself but not of the inspection mode.
A second inspection of the colon in either standard forward view or retroflected view can be considered as an easy approach to increase ADR. Further large multi-center studies should assess whether this approach can increase effectiveness of screening or surveillance colonoscopy and reduce CRC mortality.