Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. May 28, 2016; 8(5): 472-483
Published online May 28, 2016. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v8.i5.472
Computed tomography colonography for the practicing radiologist: A review of current recommendations on methodology and clinical indications
Paola Scalise, Annalisa Mantarro, Francesca Pancrazi, Emanuele Neri
Paola Scalise, Annalisa Mantarro, Francesca Pancrazi, Emanuele Neri, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Emanuele Neri, MD, Professor, Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Pisa, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Via Paradisa 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy. emanuele.neri@med.unipi.it
Telephone: +39-050-995551 Fax: +39-050-997316
Received: July 20, 2015
Peer-review started: July 27, 2015
First decision: September 22, 2015
Revised: February 4, 2016
Accepted: February 23, 2016
Article in press: February 24, 2016
Published online: May 28, 2016
Processing time: 299 Days and 7.3 Hours
Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents one of the most relevant causes of morbidity and mortality in Western societies. CRC screening is actually based on faecal occult blood testing, and optical colonoscopy still remains the gold standard screening test for cancer detection. However, computed tomography colonography (CT colonography) constitutes a reliable, minimally-invasive method to rapidly and effectively evaluate the entire colon for clinically relevant lesions. Furthermore, even if the benefits of its employment in CRC mass screening have not fully established yet, CT colonography may represent a reasonable alternative screening test in patients who cannot undergo or refuse colonoscopy. Therefore, the purpose of our review is to illustrate the most updated recommendations on methodology and the current clinical indications of CT colonography, according to the data of the existing relevant literature.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Computed tomography colonography; Colorectal polyps; Virtual colonoscopy; Screening

Core tip: Computed tomography colonography (CT colonography) was first introduced in 1994 and since then it rapidly evolved with considerable improvements achieved in the technique. CT colonography allows a minimally-invasive evaluation of the entire colon with elevated level of patient acceptance, actually representing the radiological examination of choice in colorectal cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, beyond diagnostic purposes, great interest is rising in CT colonography application as a screening tool for colonic cancer on individual basis in asymptomatic patients at average-risk. Our objective is to illustrate the current literature concerning CT colonography to better delineate its major clinical indications and the most updated recommendations on the technique methodology.