COLUMBUS – A new computer-aided polyp detection method could potentially reduce colorectal cancer by more than 40%, a press release from The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center said.

OSU is the nation’s first academic medical center to test the FDA-approved cancer screening procedure, a blending of artificial intelligence with physician know-how.

Studies cited by the university point to a 14% boost of early detection rates with the new method, potentially leading to a 42% reduction in colorectal cancers. The new test allows doctors to find high-risk lesions often invisible to the human eye, said Dr. Darwin L. Conwell, a gastroenterologist at the OSUCCC-James and the Wexner Medical Center.

“This is truly a game changer for early detection of colorectal cancer,” Conwell, director of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the Ohio State College of Medicine, stated in the release.

Dr. Peter Stanich, an associate professor at the Ohio State College of Medicine and a gastroenterologist at the OSUCCC-James and the Wexner Medical Center, explained the new technology’s importance.

“We know that the majority, if not all, colorectal cancers develop from precancerous growths we call polyps, so identifying and addressing these areas before they can transform into cancer is a powerful tool in reducing the burden of cancer through prevention,” Stanich said in the release.

Although the National Cancer Institute pinpoints the lifetime risk of developing colon cancer at 4.1%, doctors recommend people start screening for the disease at age 45. While more common in adults over age 50, rates of colorectal cancer have been on the rise among patients under age 50.