Dr. Wallapak Tavanapong and Dr. Johnny Wong received a 3 year grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health

Dr. Wallapak Tavanapong and Dr. Johnny Wong received a 3 year grant of 
$238,105 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK). This grant is in collaboration with colleagues at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Indiana University, and the University of North Texas. The grant provides additional funding to their ongoing project "Improving Colonoscopy Quality Through Automated Monitoring" funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of $899,354 for 3 years. 

Colonoscopy is currently the preferred screening modality for colorectal 
cancer that claims about 50,000 lives in the US annually. However, 
recent data suggest that there is a significant (4-12 percent) miss-rate 
associated with colonoscopy for the detection of even large polyps and 
cancers. Several patient-, equipment- and endoscopist-related factors 
may be responsible for this. The research team believes that the 
endoscopist-related factors are most important as the endoscopist can 
mitigate unfavorable conditions related to patient- or equipment-related 
conditions. The team have developed software tools to derive metrics 
about endoscopist-related factors from video files obtained during 
colonoscopy. Using their software tools, the team will study the 
following. 1) Whether computer-derived metrics reflect quality of 
colonoscopy as defined by, but not limited to, the American College of 
Gastroenterology (ACG) and American Society for Gastrointestinal 
Endoscopy (ASGE) guidelines. 2) Whether computer-derived metrics 
reflecting quality differ among beginning and experienced endoscopists. 
3) Whether awareness of automated quality monitoring alters endoscopic 
behavior towards best possible adherence to recommended ACG and ASGE 
guidelines. Successful implementation and evaluation of the automated 
quality monitoring system has the potential to improve the quality of 
care of over 14 million US citizens - the approximate number of people 
undergoing colonoscopy - on an annual basis.