An under-used colon cancer screening test now available in the U.S. effectively detects colorectal cancer and may help to improve colon cancer screening rates, according to investigators at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.
The study appears in the September 25, 2007 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).
Improved Fecal Occult Blood Tests (FOBT) called Fecal Immunochemical Tests (FITs), look for human blood in the stool and are more effective at detecting cancers and polyps than the older and more widely used stool screening tests – the guaiac tests (GTs), said James Allison, MD, an adjunct investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, UCSF Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus and lead author of the study.
Investigators and gastroenterologist clinicians at Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Division of Research compared the performance of FIT and a sensitive GT in 5,841 people with an average risk for colorectal cancer and looked at the tests' ability to detect colorectal cancers and polyps in people with the disease (sensitivity) and the tests' ability to determine which people do not have the disease (specificity).
The FIT had a sensitivity of 81.8 percent for detecting colorectal cancers and a specificity of 96.9 percent. The GT was 64.3 percent sensitive for detecting colorectal cancers and 90.1 percent specific. The higher specificity of the FIT means that there are fewer false positive results and, therefore, fewer interventional procedures need to be performed in patients without disease, said the researchers.