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At this time of year, you might expect an invitation to a dance recital or a graduation, but Dr. Paul Keller's friends and colleagues are hearing about something a bit less festive. He's inviting them -"strongly urging" might be more accurate - to get their names on the list for a virtual colonoscopy,
It's a procedure for discovering growths on the inside wall of the intestine, so Keller's invitation sounds like one you wouldn't mind losing on the way home. But finding those growths, called polyps, can prevent the development of colorectal cancer, the nation's No. 2 cause of cancer death. This year in Iowa, the American Cancer Society expects 1,840 new colon cancer cases and 710 deaths from the disease. And when you compare the relative simplicity of virtual colonoscopy with the unpleasantness usually conjured up by the phrase "colorectal exam," you might be even more inclined to take Keller's advice.
Keller specializes in body imaging at the Iowa Radiology diagnostic center in the John Stoddard Cancer Center on the Iowa Methodist Medical Center campus. The key to the group's virtual colonoscopy work is a $1.1 million CAT (computerized axial tomography) scan machine instaffed about a year ago. In addition to many other internal imaging tasks, the device produces the high-resolution X-ray images necessary for reliable colonoscopy results....