Dear AuntMinnie Insider,
Virtual colonoscopy CAD schemes are tough to evaluate and even harder to compare, owing to the many ways they can be tested and the particulars of the CT data they're trained to find polyps on.
So a CAD system that finds colorectal lesions in the same group of patients it was taught on isn't accomplishing much. A CAD scheme that finds polyps in patients similar to those it was taught on is doing a little more. And a CAD scheme that finds polyps in a different demographic is doing quite well, according to a recent presentation by Dr. Ronald Summers of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD.
The NIH team evaluated its previously validated VC CAD scheme on a sizeable group of patients for which it was untrained, and got similarly strong results. You'll find the details in this issue's Insider Exclusive, delivered to our subscribers first.
One VC article that's gotten some serious clicks in recent days concerns gastroenterology's bid to perform VC without the aid of radiologists. Can gastroenterologists pull it off, and do they really want to? You'll find plenty of opinions in the article here. We invite you to express your own views here.
There's plenty more news about virtual colonoscopy and colon cancer in this issue of the Virtual Colonoscopy Insider. Just scroll down to find it.
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
