Best in Spain for colonoscopies

A STUDY to audit the quality of colonoscopies across Spain has been led by Alicante general hospital.

The ultimate aim is to improve detection of premalignant lesions that could turn into colorectal cancer.

This makes treating it easier and improves the prognosis, reducing mortality rates, explained the head of the hospital’s digestive department, Dr Rodrigo Jover.

This was the first national study of colonoscopies on this scale and a total of 14 hospitals took part in the research, which analysed a total of 14,867 procedures between February 2016 and December 2017 on patients aged between 40 and 80.

Also leading the project was gastroenterologist Carolina Mangas, who noted that there are other factors in the quality of the test, such as cleanness of the colon, the time taken for the examination or the ability to explore the whole colon, as well as the skill of the doctor who performs the colonoscopy.

The conclusions were published in the specialist clinical magazine Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and indicated that the quality of colonoscopies and endoscopists at Spanish centres is good and meets almost all the standards set by international scientific societies. Only the quality of cleanness of the colon was below the recommended level, 86.6% compared to 90%, and only 8% of endoscopists scored lower than the established results.

Currently they are investigating what factors can be improved in order to improve attention to patients.

The regional health system offers tests for blood in faeces to men and women aged between 50 and 69 who show no symptoms, and if the result is positive they are referred for a colonoscopy to determine the cause.