National focus on optical diagnosis
St Mark’s National Bowel Hospital’s pioneering research into the use of optical diagnosis (OD) during colonoscopies is transforming clinical practice in the UK following its adoption by the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England.
Optical diagnosis allows specially trained endoscopists to visually assess and discard small low-risk polyps less than 5mm in size while examining the lining of the bowel.
The process called ‘resect and discard’ could save the NHS up to £5million a year with an estimated 130,000 polyp samples avoiding lab analysis.
Professor Brian Saunders and Dr Ahmir Ahmad tested the validity of OD during an earlier clinical study called DISCARD3 which was instrumental in it being adopted nationally by the BCSP.
They, together with the implementation team at NHS England, have now developed and rolled out a national accreditation pathway for OD.
It has already trained more than 400 screening colonoscopists with the majority of screening centres in England now having a designated OD champion.
Dr Ahmad said: “It’s exciting to see how research originally conducted at St Mark’s is having national impact.
“It is a real game changer enabling greener, leaner, more cost-effective and skilled colonoscopies as well as enhancing patient care through faster decision-making.”
The wider benefits include reducing pressure on histopathology services allowing resources to be focused on more complex or high-risk lesions, such as larger polyps or cancers, and being more eco-friendly.
Their work was recently recognised by their peers at the Royal College of Physicians’ where they picked up an Excellence in Patient Care Award.