Background and aims: This prospective trial was designed to compare the performance characteristics of five different screening tests in parallel for the detection of advanced colonic neoplasia: CT colonography (CTC), colonoscopy (OC), flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS), faecal immunochemical stool testing (FIT) and faecal occult blood testing (FOBT). Methods: Average risk adults provided stool specimens for FOBT and FIT, and underwent same-day low-dose 64-multidetector row CTC and OC using segmentally unblinded OC as the standard of reference. Sensitivities and specificities were calculated for each single test, and for combinations of FS and stool tests. CTC radiation exposure was measured, and patient comfort levels and preferences were assessed by questionnaire. Results: 221 adenomas were detected in 307 subjects who completed CTC (mean radiation dose, 4.5 mSv) and OC; 269 patients provided stool samples for both FOBT and FIT. Sensitivities of OC, CTC, FS, FIT and FOBT for advanced colonic neoplasia were 100% (95% CI 88.4% to 100%), 96.7% (82.8% to 99.9%), 83.3% (95% CI 65.3% to 94.4%), 32% (95% CI 14.9% to 53.5) and 20% (95% CI 6.8% to 40.7%), respectively. Combination of FS with FOBT or FIT led to no relevant increase in sensitivity. 12 of 45 advanced adenomas were smaller than 10 mm. 46% of patients preferred CTC and 37% preferred OC (p,0.001). Conclusions: High-resolution and low-dose CTC is feasible for colorectal cancer screening and reaches sensitivities comparable with OC for polyps .5 mm. For patients who refuse full bowel preparation and OC or CTC, FS should be preferred over stool tests. However, in cases where stool tests are performed, FIT should be recommended rather than FOBT.Colorectal cancer is one of the major public health issues in industrialised countries. Most colorectal cancers are thought to originate from benign adenomatous polyps that develop over a period of many years.1 Early detection followed by removal of adenomas has been shown to reduce incidence and colorectal cancer-related mortality.2 3Therefore, screening of the asymptomatic and average risk population is recommended by many organisations and expert panels, and is reimbursed by insurance companies in several countries. 4-7Next to colonoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy (FS) and guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (FOBT) are widely applied screening procedures which have been compared prospectively with each other. Colonoscopy has been found to be the screening test with the highest sensitivity and outperforms FS and FOBT which miss a significant number of relevant adenomas. 8 Colonoscopy, however, is not a perfect test in itself, and misses 6-12% of large adenomas. 9-11CT colonography (CTC), also known as virtual colonoscopy, and faecal immunochemical tests (FITs) have been proposed as screening tests for colonic neoplasia.12-14 They have at present not been integrated into screening programmes. Based on recent research, CTC shows heterogeneous results in the detection of colonic polyps: some studies demonstrated high sen...

These results indicate that the Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent is safe for treatment of patients with de novo and restenotic lesions of the above-the-knee femoropopliteal segment. At 1 year, the overall anatomical and clinical effectiveness results suggest that this stent is a promising endovascular therapy.

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Despite more challenging lesions, results from the current study are similar to outcomes from the previous Zilver PTX studies, confirming the benefit of the Zilver PTX DES in a real-world patient population. (Zilver PTX Post-Market Study in Japan; NCT02254837).

Purpose Patient-level data from two large studies of the Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent (DES) with long-term follow-up and concurrent non-drug comparator groups were analyzed to determine whether there was an increased mortality risk due to paclitaxel. Methods Data from the Zilver PTX randomized controlled trial (RCT) and Zilver PTX and bare metal stent (BMS) Japan post-market surveillance studies were analyzed.Five-year follow-up is complete in both DES studies; follow-up for the BMS study was limited to 3 years and is complete. Kaplan-Meier analyses assessed mortality. A Cox proportional hazards model identified significant factors related to mortality. Results In the RCT, there were 336 patients treated with the DES and 143 patients treated with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) or BMS. In Japan, there were 904 DES patients and 190 BMS patients. There was no difference in all-cause mortality for the DES compared to PTA/BMS in the RCT (19.1% DES versus 17.1% PTA/ BMS through 5 years, p = 0.60) or Japan (15.8% DES versus 15.3% BMS through 3 years, p = 0.89). Cox proportional hazard models revealed that age, tissue loss, and congestive heart failure were significantly associated with mortality in the RCT, and critical limb ischemia, age, renal failure, and gender were significantly associated with mortality in Japan (all p \ 0.05). Neither treatment with Zilver PTX (p = 0.46 RCT, p = 0.49 Japan) nor paclitaxel dose (p = 0.86 RCT, p = 0.07 Japan) was associated with mortality. Conclusion Analyses of the Zilver PTX patient-level data demonstrated no increase in long-term all-cause mortality. Level of Evidence Zilver PTX RCT: Level 1, randomized controlled trial; Japan PMS studies: Level 3, post-market surveillance study.