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https://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/home/cancer-topics/gastrointestinal-cancers/fda-clears-skout-to-detect-colorectal-polyps-in-real-time-during-colonoscopy/
Interesting article that leads to more questions: Does FDA approval mean gastroenterologists can bill more for using the device vs standard colonoscopy? If so, will insurance companies reimburse for it?
And on the path end, does this mean receiving more or less colon biopsies if this becomes widely adopted? I could see it going either way i.e. more biopsies if clinicians were missing too many minute polyps. On the other hand, it could result in less biopsies if clinicians were over-biopsying non-polypoid lesions e.g. mucosal folds, lymphoid nodules, etc. I guess it depends on the operator and how accurate their rate biopsying true polyps was to begin with.
Of note, in case anyone was thinking of the previous colonoscopy tech that was supposed to offer patients a real-time "virtual diagnosis", this seems to be different. The SKOUT is supposed to aid in detection/screening for the presence of colon polyps, not act as a replacement for a histopathologic diagnosis as was mentioned the article linked below from a few years ago (and this technology seemingly has gone nowhere).
High Def Scope to assess polyps (Disruptive technology)
Interesting article that leads to more questions: Does FDA approval mean gastroenterologists can bill more for using the device vs standard colonoscopy? If so, will insurance companies reimburse for it?
And on the path end, does this mean receiving more or less colon biopsies if this becomes widely adopted? I could see it going either way i.e. more biopsies if clinicians were missing too many minute polyps. On the other hand, it could result in less biopsies if clinicians were over-biopsying non-polypoid lesions e.g. mucosal folds, lymphoid nodules, etc. I guess it depends on the operator and how accurate their rate biopsying true polyps was to begin with.
Of note, in case anyone was thinking of the previous colonoscopy tech that was supposed to offer patients a real-time "virtual diagnosis", this seems to be different. The SKOUT is supposed to aid in detection/screening for the presence of colon polyps, not act as a replacement for a histopathologic diagnosis as was mentioned the article linked below from a few years ago (and this technology seemingly has gone nowhere).
High Def Scope to assess polyps (Disruptive technology)
