Full-body CT scans are not covered by managed care health plans, but new laboratory tests may soon be. As a low cost-screening tool, detection of genetic mutations holds promise for many cancers and requires just a few drops of blood, urine, and saliva. In diagnosing cancer, Sidransky tells WebMD that these new tests won't replace traditional testing, but will probably serve as a first step. A urine test for bladder cancer could be available within the next two years. Until then, new approaches in bowel imaging are less invasive than traditional exams.
Virtual colonoscopy allows doctors to see inside the colon without a scope inserted into the rectum.
Virtual colonoscopy eliminates the risk of penetrating the bowel wall with the instruments and the need for sedation, but won't replace traditional colonoscopy for everyone. But for most people, the virtual procedure is two thirds the cost of traditional colonoscopy and will ultimately be the price of a mammogram. Another approach to imaging of the digestive track is as simple as swallowing a capsule. Researchers in the U.K. and Israel have developed a wireless video camera that transmits images, of the stomach and intestines, as it moves though the digestive tract. The video capsules are not likely to replace gastroscopy and endoscopy, in which a long flexible scope is passed through the throat.