First reports of computed tomographic colonography for the screening of colorectal polyps in acromegalic patients

Abstract

*Aim:* To analyze the CTC performance for the screening of colorectal polyps in acromegalic patients.

*Materials and Methods:*

A prospective study of 21 acromegalic patients, 12 male and 9 female, average age 49, who underwent CTC and CC. CTC was performed with a GE Helical Multislice Computed Tomography Apparatus. The colonoscopy was performed, in the same day, without previous knowledge of the CTC diagnostics. The study evaluated the capacity of CTC to detect patients with colorectal polyps and identify each colorectal lesion described by CC.

*Results:*

In two patients (2/21), CC was incomplete. However, in all patients CTC was complete. In Phase I (“Per Patient”), CTC diagnosed 8 of the 9 patients with colorectal polyps and showed 88% sensitivity, 75% specificity and 81% accuracy. In Phase II (“Per Polyp”), out of the 21 acromegalic patients included in this study, 12 presented normal findings at CC. A total of 19 polyps were identified in 9 patients. 10 of the 19 polyps were smaller than 10 mm, and 9 were equal to or larger than 10. CTC identified 7 of the 9 polyps ≥ 10 mm described by CC and only 6 of the 10 small polyps identified at CC were detected by CTC. The histological analysis of resected lesions revealed 12 tubular adenomas, 6 hyperplastic polyps and 1 colonic tubulo-villous adenoma with an adenocarcinoma focus. *Conclusion:* In this study, CTC was performed without complications and a complete and safe colorectal evaluation was possible in all acromegalic patients. Moreover, CTC showed good sensitivity to identify acromegalic patients with colorectal polyps.