The is currently a heavy burden on endoscopy services worldwide and although guidelines for the appropriate use of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) have been well studied, there are few such studies with respect to colonoscopy and none for the Asia-Pacific region. This study aimed, firstly, to determine the 'appropriateness of colonoscopy' for procedures performed in the endoscopy unit of a large Asian hospital using the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) 2000 guidelines, and secondly, to determine predictive factors including 'appropriateness of colonoscopy' for positive findings and colorectal cancer (CRC).
Increased inter-equipment connectivity coupled with advances in Web technology allows ever escalating amounts of physiological data to be produced, far too much to be displayed adequately on a single computer screen. The consequence is that large quantities of insignificant data will be transmitted and reviewed. This carries an increased risk of overlooking vitally important transients. This paper describes a technique to provide an integrated solution based on a single algorithm for the efficient analysis, compression and remote display of long-term physiological signals with infrequent short duration, yet vital events, to effect a reduction in data transmission and display cluttering and to facilitate reliable data interpretation. The algorithm analyses data at the server end and flags significant events. It produces a compressed version of the signal at a lower resolution that can be satisfactorily viewed in a single screen width. This reduced set of data is initially transmitted together with a set of 'flags' indicating where significant events occur. Subsequent transmissions need only involve transmission of flagged data segments of interest at the required resolution. Efficient processing and code protection with decomposition alone is novel. The fixed transmission length method ensures clutter-less display, irrespective of the data length. The flagging of annotated events in arterial oxygen saturation, electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram illustrates the generic property of the algorithm. Data reduction of 87% to 99% and improved displays are demonstrated.