Briefs

California Health Officials Alert Patients: Colonoscopes Possibly Infected

SAN FRANCISCO -- Officials with the California Department of Health Services sent out warnings to more than 1,000 hospitals and clinics in the state concerning the proper disinfection regimen necessary to keep endoscopes from transmitting nosocomial infections.

The warning comes after more than 3,200 patients in the Sacramento-area were notified in February that they may have been infected by an unsanitized colonoscope. At press time, no patients from either Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital or Sonora Community Hospital had reported illness.

Officials at Olympus America reportedly contacted more than 2,200 hospitals nationally to remind endoscopy team members of proper cleaning protocol.

For more information, visit: www.dhs.cahwnet.gov.

Doctors Support Virtual Colonoscopy

LONG ISLAND, NY -- Endoscopy team members are discussing virtual colonoscopy technology.

"It helps to save lives," states Kevin A. Kreeger, PhD and director of research and development for Viatronix, an FDA-approved 3-D Virtual Colonoscopy system developer.

C. Michael Wright, MD, a cardiologist at The LifeScore Clinic in San Diego, agrees. "People are risking their lives just to avoid the traditional procedure," he says. He says colon screening is the best way to substantially reduce the incidence of colon cancer, but admits that patients may be turning a deaf ear.

"A lot of time and effort has been poured into awareness and public service campaigns with the best of intentions, but you can't change the fact that the traditional procedure is unpleasant, uncomfortable and people can't immediately return to normal activities."

James Ehrlich, MD, medical director of Colorado Heart and Body Imaging, HeartCheck in Washington, D.C. and HeartScan of Indiana, also sees virtual colonoscopy as a patient-friendly solution that should encourage more people to get the screening, without being concerned about sedation, lost work and small but possible risks including colon perforation. He points to other reasons why virtual colonoscopy comes much closer to an "ideal" screening test than its invasive traditional counterpart, conventional colonoscopy.

"Virtual colonoscopy can visualize 100 percent of the colon surface because of its ability to navigate in both directions. The patient undergoes a much milder bowel preparation, receives no sedation and can return to normal activities immediately. It gives patients another option and gets more people in for screening. We have also found a few life-threatening extracolonic lesions before they became significant, an added bonus for this exciting new test. Traditional colonoscopy is an important procedure; unfortunately, it has been a failure of public acceptance. We think that the introduction of a safer and comparably accurate screening procedure will increase the numbers of those requesting a complete colon examination by at least 50 percent."

For more information visit: www.viatronix.com.

ALFA Adds Member

CHICAGO -- The Associated Lab of the Future Alliance (ALFA) -- a research consortium including six suppliers to the gastrointestinal and endoscopic ambulatory surgery center markets -- has added an additional member.

CDx Laboratories, Inc., joins the group as a developer of computer-assisted diagnostic technology to find early stages of cancer. The technology allows healthcare workers to find certain types of cancer in curable stages without scalpel biopsies.

"With CDx Laboratories on board with the consortium, there is a greater likelihood that we can realize our vision of a totally integrated GI lab," says Scott Wilson, area manager of Datascope and one of the founding members of ALFA.

Other members of ALFA include: Custom Ultrasonics, Datascope, Medtronic, Pentax Precision Instrument Corporation and Quintron.

For more information, visit: www.ealfaonline.com.

Healthcare Workers Protected from Glutaraldehyde

TAMPA -- Officials at Nextteq have introduced PiezOptic -- a dosimeter badge gas detection system -- in an effort to protect healthcare workers from potential health risks caused by glutaraldehyde exposure.

The system allows personnel to monitor their daily occupational exposure levels to the instrument-cleaning chemical. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists has set the limit of exposure at 50 ppb. Anything higher could cause asthma and other breathing complications.

For more information, visit: www.nextteq.com.

CDC, CCFA Partner

ATLANTA -- Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) have paired to determine how many Americans are suffering from irritable bowel disease (IBD).

CDC and CCFA officials met in 2002 to discuss the epidemiology of IBD. After CCFA officials decided they could no longer wait for Congressional funding of an epidemiological study of IBD, they asked CDC researchers to submit a proposal for a national survey. The grant proposal was approved by the CCFA board in September 2002.

Siobhan O'Connor, MD, MPH and a team of CDC officials will research the prevalence and incidence rates of IBD in different regions nationally. Both adult and pediatric data will be gathered, in addition to ethnically diverse data.

For more information, visit: www.ccfa.org.

Colossal Colon Tour Educates, Amazes Chapel Hill

CHAPEL HILL, N.C -- A 40-foot long, four-foot tall crawl-through replica of the human colon recently arrived at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The mayor, local cancer survivors and healthcare professionals welcomed the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation's 20-city Colossal Colon Tour to Chapel Hill.

Accompanying the exhibit is an educational display that features hands-on, interactive stations covering topics on colorectal cancer detection, screening and treatment options and healthy eating and exercise demonstrations.

"The Colossal Colon Tour provides a unique opportunity to educate Americans about colorectal cancer -- which is 90 percent preventable," says Carolyn Aldige, president and founder of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation. "After experiencing the Colossal Colon, we hope visitors will take the pledge to talk about colorectal cancer with their health care professionals."

The Colossal Colon is the creation of Molly McMaster, a 27-year-old colorectal cancer survivor, with help and support from the clinical and educational staff at the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital in Glens Falls, N.Y. The Colossal Colon is dedicated to the memory of Molly's friend, Amanda Sherwood Roberts, who lost her battle with colorectal cancer at age 27.

"Last year more than 237 people in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area died of colorectal cancer -- the tragedy is that almost all of these deaths could have been prevented through awareness, education and proper screening," says Shelton Earp, MD, director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. "We are pleased that the national Colossal Colon Tour will begin in Chapel Hill and hope this interactive exhibit will promote changes in North Carolinians' behavior regarding screening for this deadly, yet preventable disease."

The Colossal Colon Tour is part of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month 2003 and is sponsored by the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation (formerly the Cancer Research Foundation of America). The Colossal Colon Tour has also been made possible by the generous financial support of Roche, which is helping to ensure that this important educational exhibit reaches as many Americans as possible.

Visit the Colossal Colon Tour exhibit in one of the following upcoming exhibits:

April 2-5
Lummus Park on South Beach, Miami

April 16-19
Rivermarket Pavilion, Little Rock, Ark.

April 16-19
City Hall Plaza, Dallas

May 7-10
TBD, Houston

May 21-24
Pioneer Court, Chicago

June 11-14
Burton Bar Public Library, Phoenix

June 18-21
Kenneth Hahn Building, Los Angeles

June 25-28
Pier 39, San Francisco

July 9-12
Seattle Center, Seattle

July 23-26
TBD, Denver

Aug. 6-9
TBD, Minneapolis

Aug. 20-23
Gateway Mall at Kiener Plaza, St. Louis

Sept. 3-6
TBD, Detroit

Sept. 17-20
Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland

Oct. 1-4
JFK Plaza, Philadelphia

Oct. 15-18
Copley Square, Boston

Oct. 29-Nov. 1
TBD, New York City

For more information, visit: www.CheckYourInsidesOut.org.

From the Mail Bag...What Is ENDO?

Every patient gets monitored for conscious sedation for upper and lower procedures.

• Nothing to eat after midnight
• Drink prep to clean out large bowel for colonoscopy
• Often little bloated and gassy following colonoscopy, don't hold the air in... just let it rip!

-- Nanette Bacani-Tan, Endonurse, BSN, RN-C, CGRN, Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ.

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