Campbell MacLeod - CRH MD student Colonoscopy review
Title of MD project: Evaluating colon capsule endoscopy use in Scotland and the implications for patients and the NHS.
Dates: June 2020 to June 2022
Description:
Colonoscopy remains the mainstay of colonic investigations with 71,000 performed throughout Scotland in 2016. Patients may undergo a colonoscopy for new symptoms, due to established pathology requiring surveillance or patients with positive bowel screening. However, demand on colonoscopy services continues to increase raising concerns about the sustainability of this diagnostic service.
Colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) is a novel, minimally invasive method for investigating the colon which could be used as an alternative to colonoscopy. The aim of our research is to establish how CCE could be deployed in Scotland to benefit patients who require colonoscopy. Patients have undergone CCE following recruitment to the ScotCap evaluation with clinical outcomes measured to evaluate how it is best used and which patients will benefit most from this test. Further research is planned to establish patients values and preferences when considering colonic investigations in the form of the discrete choice experiment. Finally, we plan to conduct an economical analysis of CCE to determine if it is cost effective and assess other non-clinical benefits or costs to the NHS.
Campbell, Professor Wilson and Professor Watson have recently published an article detailing how CCE could be used to help colonoscopy services resume during the pandemic. Available https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/codi.15134
Supervisory Team:
· Professor Philip Wilson, Director of Centre for Rural Health
· Professor Shaun Treweek, Chair in Health Services Research
· Professor Angus Watson, Director of Research, Development and Innovation, NHS Highland