Study: Colonoscopy miss rate of 12 percent

STANFORD, Calif., May 24 (UPI) -- A U.S. study found an overall colonoscopy miss rate of 12 percent for tumors of any size and 3 percent for tumors greater than 6 millimeters.

In the study, two consecutive, same-day colonoscopies were performed in 276 patients. All colonoscopies used a wide angle of view -- 170 degrees compared with standard 140 -- and high resolution capabilities.

No lesion larger than 1 centimeter was missed and all missed tumors were tubular adenomas, or non-cancerous tumors.

"Our findings suggest that technological advances have led to a significant reduction in the overall colorectal tumor miss rate, establishing a new benchmark for more accurate screening and detection," senior author Dr. Roy Soetikno of Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., said in a statement.

"Our study reaffirms the role of colonoscopy as the gold standard method to screen for colorectal cancer."

In 1997 the overall reported rate of missing colorectal tumors was 24 percent.