New endoscope at NCH better at catching polyps, study says

When John Scarsi went to Northwest Community Hospital recently for a routine colonoscopy, he knew the procedure.

But this time, when he woke up from the sedative, his doctor - Willis Parsons, director of the GI Center at NCH in Arlington Heights - told him they had removed a precancerous polyp.

The difference was a new scope, one that found Scarsi's polyp where it likely would have gone unnoticed before.

Northwest Community Hospital is the first endoscopy department in an Illinois hospital to use the Fuse endoscope, new technology that allows doctors a 330-degree view of the colon. Previous scopes gave them a 170-degree range.

Instead of one camera it has three, which Parsons says can make a big difference.

Parsons first heard about the Fuse endoscope at a conference last year. With support from Northwest Community, two were installed at the hospital in the past few weeks. The new scope is FDA approved and does not increase the cost to the patient, he said.

"We are always looking at new technologies and this one was a no brainer," Parsons said. "This is going to take off and a lot of other places will start purchasing it too."

The Illinois Gastroenterology Group in Elgin is the only other facility in Illinois so far with a Fuse endoscope.

A clinical study published in March said doctors using the Fuse scope detected 69 percent more precancerous polyps than with standard equipment.

March was Colon Cancer Awareness month, and Parsons said it is the perfect time for patients to talk to their doctors about getting a colonoscopy.

The average patient should get his or her first colonoscopy at age 50; someone with a family history should go sooner, he said.

Scarsi, who lives in Gurnee, has a family history of colon cancer and gets colonoscopies more frequently.

"I felt so relieved he was able to find this and remove it," Scarsi said. "With the older technology it may not have been notifiable, so I feel very fortunate."