Despite the benefits of being safer, taking less time, and having lower costs when compared to a traditional colonoscopy, CT scanning for colorectal cancer screening (CTC) has not been widely adopted at medical centers across the country. That may change, however, due to the recent decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to cover these exams.
In a commentary published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) David Kim, MD and colleagues outline the integration of CTC into clinical practice and the barriers in doing so.
One component to overcoming the challenges of widespread adoption of CTC will involve training large numbers of radiologists in a quality fashion to interpret the anticipated increased screening volumes. Dr. Kim and co-authors wrote “To date, much training has traditionally been accomplished by on-the-job exposure within a department or through commercially available short courses. However, development of structured curricula is vital to reduce variation in practice and skills acquisition for radiologists.”
Co-authors include Perry Pickhardt, MD; Anu Obaro, PhD from St Mark’s Hospital and Academic Institute, London, UK; and Stuart Taylor, MD from Centre for Medical Imaging, University College London.
Read the full article on AJR and additional coverage on Radiology Business and AuntMinnieEurope.com.