Reviewer's report 
 Quality control in colorectal cancer screening: Systematic microbiological investigation of Title: 
endoscopes used in the NORCCAP (Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Prevention) trial
Authors: 
Dr Michael Bretthauer ( michael.bretthauer@sthf.no )
Anita Jorgensen ( anita.jorgensen@sthf.no )
Bjorn-Erik Kristiansen ( bjorn.erik.kristiansen@telelab.no )
Bjorn Hofstad ( bjorn.hofstad@ioks.uio.no )
Dr Geir Hoff ( hofg@online.no )
 2  30 May 2003 Version: Date: 
 Paul Rozen Reviewer: 
 A paper whose findings are important to those with closely related research Level of interest: 
interests 
 Accept after discretionary revisions Advice on publication: 
Minor comments 
1. In the abstract, line 10, after the word "samples", add "2%". 
2. Abstract, line 13, in front of "significant" suggest adding the word "clinically". The word "significant" 
usually has statistical meaning and is not true for this paper. 
3. In the methods section, alcohol was added as a rinse through the channels. An advantage of this 
is to dry out the channel which if damp can allow bacteria to grow. This can be mentioned in the 
discussion. 
4. "Methods" usually comes after "Backgound". In this revised version, they were placed at the end of 
the text. 
Competing interests: 
None declared. 
Reviewer's report 
 Quality control in colorectal cancer screening: Systematic microbiological investigation of Title: 
endoscopes used in the NORCCAP (Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Prevention) trial
Authors: 
Dr Michael Bretthauer ( michael.bretthauer@sthf.no )
Anita Jorgensen ( anita.jorgensen@sthf.no )
Bjorn-Erik Kristiansen ( bjorn.erik.kristiansen@telelab.no )
Bjorn Hofstad ( bjorn.hofstad@ioks.uio.no )
Dr Geir Hoff ( hofg@online.no )
 2  30 May 2003 Version: Date: 
 Paul Rozen Reviewer: 
 A paper whose findings are important to those with closely related research Level of interest: 
interests 
 Accept after discretionary revisions Advice on publication: 
Minor comments 
1. In the abstract, line 10, after the word "samples", add "2%". 
2. Abstract, line 13, in front of "significant" suggest adding the word "clinically". The word "significant" 
usually has statistical meaning and is not true for this paper. 
3. In the methods section, alcohol was added as a rinse through the channels. An advantage of this 
is to dry out the channel which if damp can allow bacteria to grow. This can be mentioned in the 
discussion. 
4. "Methods" usually comes after "Backgound". In this revised version, they were placed at the end of 
the text. 
Competing interests: 
None declared. 
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report 
 Quality control in colorectal cancer screening: Systematic microbiological investigation of Title: 
endoscopes used in the NORCCAP (Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Prevention) trial
Authors: 
Dr Michael Bretthauer ( michael.bretthauer@sthf.no )
Anita Jorgensen ( anita.jorgensen@sthf.no )
Bjorn-Erik Kristiansen ( bjorn.erik.kristiansen@telelab.no )
Bjorn Hofstad ( bjorn.hofstad@ioks.uio.no )
Dr Geir Hoff ( hofg@online.no )
 2  30 May 2003 Version: Date: 
 Paul Rozen Reviewer: 
 A paper whose findings are important to those with closely related research Level of interest: 
interests 
 Accept after discretionary revisions Advice on publication: 
Minor comments 
1. In the abstract, line 10, after the word "samples", add "2%". 
2. Abstract, line 13, in front of "significant" suggest adding the word "clinically". The word "significant" 
usually has statistical meaning and is not true for this paper. 
3. In the methods section, alcohol was added as a rinse through the channels. An advantage of this 
is to dry out the channel which if damp can allow bacteria to grow. This can be mentioned in the 
discussion. 
4. "Methods" usually comes after "Backgound". In this revised version, they were placed at the end of 
the text. 
Competing interests: 
None declared. 
assistant