Clinical trials

Frailty is a common clinical syndrome in older adults that may carry an increased risk for poor health outcomes including falls, hospitalisation, and mortality. Having a colonoscopy can be associated with potential adverse outcomes in frail patients. At present, however, frailty is not routinely assessed in gastroenterological clinical practice. In a prospective randomised controlled study consenting patients over 65 years at the Princess Alexandra Hospital will receive either a) personalised (tailored) approach that includes assessment of frailty and structured information provided to the consumer or b) current standard practice in regards to having a surveillance colonoscopy to determine the effects on patient satisfaction and percentage of colonoscopies avoided.

Colonoscopic removal of polyps is an important and well-established tool in the prevention of colorectal cancers. However, high polyp recurrence rates after endoscopic resection, with resultant development of interval cancers, remains a problem; this most commonly stems from unrecognised incomplete polyp resection. Thus, a standardised endoscopic technique is needed that will allow endoscopists to consistently achieve a clear margin of resection. The investigators believe the Cap Assisted Resection Margin Assessment (CARMA) technique will address this problem. This novel technique focuses on a standardised assessment of the resection margin after endoscopic polypectomy utilising available standard high-definition video endoscopes with imaging features including narrow band imaging (NBI) and magnification endoscopy.