title: Intravenous contrast enhanced computed tomography colonoscopy in children with suspected colonic polyps.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of intravenous contrast enhanced computed tomographic colonoscopy (IVCTC) in the diagnosis of clinically suspected colorectal polyps in children, using conventional colonoscopy (CC) as the gold standard.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study conducted between July 2008 and June 2010. 30 pediatric patients with history of rectal bleeding and clinically suspected to have colorectal polyps were enrolled. All of the patients underwent IVCTC followed by CC. 30 IVCTC and 31 CC were performed in 30 patients. The findings of IVCTC were compared with those of CC. Statistical analysis was performed to obtain diagnostic performance values of IVCTC on per polyp (sensitivity and positive predictive value) and per patient (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value) basis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  By IVCTC, 63 polyps were detected in 28 patients of which 53 polyps were eligible for inclusion in the statistical analysis. 60 polyps were detected by CC in 28 patients of which 50 polyps were eligible for inclusion in the statistical analysis. The per polyp sensitivity and positive predictive values were 94% and 88.6% respectively. The per patient sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive values were 96.4, 50, 96.4, and 50% respectively. Twenty polyps, in 10 patients, were visualized only after intravenous contrast administration of which 5 polyps, in 5 patients, were likely to have been missed in the absence of the intravenous contrast injection as these polyps were submerged in fluid. Four patients would have had a false negative CTC examination if the intravenous contrast had not been injected; while in another patient, the number of polyps would have been underestimated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CTC is capable of serving as a safe and efficient non-invasive tool for evaluating children with clinically suspected colorectal polyps. Administration of intravenous contrast improves the sensitivity of polyp detection on CTC.
authors: Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Sector-12, Chandigarh 160 012, India. anmol_bhatia26@yahoo.co.in
authors: Anmol
authors: A
authors: Bhatia
authors: Akshay K
authors: AK
authors: Saxena
authors: Naveen
authors: N
authors: Kalra
authors: Kushaljit S
authors: KS
authors: Sodhi
authors: Babu R
authors: BR
authors: Thapa
authors: Katragadda L N
authors: KL
authors: Rao
authors: Niranjan
authors: N
authors: Khandelwal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003111:Colonic Polyps / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology*; D023881:Colonography, Computed Tomographic / Q000379:methods*; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007455:Iodine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D007455:Iodine