- Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and women in the United States, excluding skin cancers.
- Screening for colorectal cancer has reduced rates of cancer since the mid-1980s.
- A new screening test developed in the Netherlands may improve accuracy of colorectal cancer screening.
A new stool test could offer improved detection of precursors to colorectal cancer.
That’s according to a new
The researchers from the Netherlands say the test they developed is more effective than currently available stool tests at detecting larger polyps.
“The current test performs well but leaves room for improvement,” Gerrit Meijer, principal investigator at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and co-author of the research, said in a press statement.
“We want to be able to detect the tumors before they have become invasive, that is at the stage of larger premalignant polyps. Treating physicians then can remove these polyps during a colonoscopy, rather than by surgery,” Meijer added.
FIT tests are fecal immunochemical tests. They are a type of stool test that many countries use in screening programs for colorectal cancer.
They work by detecting the presence of hemoglobin in stool samples. Hemoglobin is a type of protein found in blood.
“The big benefit of these tests that are stool based are the convenience of being able to do them in your own home. So, overall, they are very convenient to do and that’s why we’re happy that it is a screening option,” Folasade May, PhD, an associate professor of medicine in the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases at the University of California Los Angeles, told Medical News Today.
“These tests are actually quite good at finding cancers,” added May, who was not involved in the research. “They are also pretty good at finding these pre-cancerous polyps that we also care about a lot. But they’re not going to be as good as finding a pre-cancerous polyp…
Read the full article here