title: Electronic colon-cleansing for CT colonography: diagnostic performance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether an electronic-colonic-cleansing (ECC) algorithm is beneficial for the diagnostic performance compared to a CT colonography (CTC) evaluation without electronic cleansing in tagged datasets.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two blinded readers evaluated CTC datasets from 79 patients with 153 colorectal polyps confirmed by optical colonoscopy. Cases were read in a randomized order with and without the use of electronic colon-cleansing software. Per-polyp sensitivity, per-polyp/per-patient specificity and reading times (with and without ECC) have been calculated and reported.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Per-polyp sensitivity for polyps >6 mm without using ECC was 60.4% (Reader 1: 59.7%, Reader 2: 61.1%), while polyps >10 mm were detected with a sensitivity of 58.3% (Reader 1: 66.7%, Reader 2: 50%). On electronically cleansed datasets, the sensitivity was 73.6% (Reader 1: 76.4%; Reader 2: 70.8%) for polyps >6 mm and 83.3% (Reader 1: 83.3%; Reader 2: 83.3%), respectively. Per-patient specificity was 75% without using cleansing (Reader 1: 68%, Reader 2: 82%) and 81.5% using ECC (Reader 1: 86%, Reader 2: 77%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reading CTC cases using ECC software improves sensitivity in detecting clinically relevant colorectal polyps.
authors.affiliation: Department for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospitals Ulm, Ulm, Germany. markus.juchems@uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: Markus S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Juchems
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Sunny
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Virmani
authors.forename: Hans-Juergen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Brambs
authors.forename: Andrik J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Aschoff
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001464:Barium; D001726:Bisacodyl / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002400:Cathartics / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003106:Colon / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003111:Colonic Polyps / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D023881:Colonography, Computed Tomographic / Q000379:methods*; D003287:Contrast Media; D003973:Diatrizoate; D003974:Diatrizoate Meglumine; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D015588:Observer Variation; D010710:Phosphates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002400:Cathartics; D003287:Contrast Media; D010710:Phosphates; D001726:Bisacodyl; D003973:Diatrizoate; D001464:Barium; D003974:Diatrizoate Meglumine; C018279:sodium phosphate