A colonoscopy can save your life, but the waiting list is a year or longer. In the second part of her special Health Watch series, Carleen Wild looks at how the UW hopes to shorten the wait with new technology: virtual colonoscopy.

MADISON, Wis. -- For years, people leery of conventional colonoscopy have simply chosen to forego the gold-standard screening for colon cancer. And it has cost many lives.

COLON CANCER WATCH: Part I George's Story | READ IT Part II: New Virtual Colonoscopy | READ IT Some Insurers Are Not Covering The Cost Of Colonoscopies TALKBACK: Have You Had A Colonoscopy? Q&A Prevention Surgery Eat Wheat? New Screening RESOURCES UW Comprehensive Cancer Center UW's Virtual Colonoscopy March: Colorectal Cancer Month UW Health: Resource Guide for Colorectal Cancer UW Cancer Center: Current Clinical Trials (Wausau) Colon Cancer Alliance National Cancer Institute: C.Cance Colon Cancer Information Center

Dr. Perry Pickhardt hopes a new 3-D screening for colon cancer will be ready for service in the next few months.

"We know it can save lives if people get screened either way (colonoscopy or virtual colonoscopy) -- both good tests, give patients a choice," said Pickhardt, the lead investigator in studies of virtual colonoscopy.

In many cases, the virtual test can pick up and see things better than conventional colonoscopies, and the test itself is far easier for most to take.

There's no IV, pain medications, no sedation, no recovery time, and you don't have to take the day off from work like you would for a conventional colonoscopy.

"The only invasiveness, basically, is putting a small flex catheter into the rectum, puffing air," Pickhardt said.

Patients will still have to do the traditional preparation of a conventional colonoscopy to clean out their gastrointestinal system.

How does it work? You go into your doctor's office, have a computerized tomography scan and hold your breath for two 10-15 second images. That's it. The rest is done by the computer.

"This is an exciting time -- the UW will lead the way," Pickhardt said. "It's really a shame 60,000 people a year die from a preventable disease. So really, the goal is to increase screening and prevent deaths from happening."

It is a very fast screening, which will allow for many more people to be tested, Wild reported.

Those eligible have to be young, generally between 50 and 75. If you're at high risk, the traditional colonoscopy is still recommended because right now that's the only test where, if doctors find a polyp, they can remove it at the same time.

For more information or to sign up for the test call (608) 263-9028.