A new option for non-invasive colorectal cancer testing may encourage some
people who avoid screening for the deadly disease to be tested, according to Indiana University researchers.
A study published in the December 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that a non-invasive test for DNA mutations present in stool detects colorectal cancer more than half of the time -- far better than the standard non-invasive method, fecal occult (hidden) blood stool testing.
The study, conducted at 81 sites, reports that the fecal occult blood test found only 13 percent of colorectal cancer while the new stool DNA test detected 52 percent of the cancers.
Neither test approaches the detection rate of colonoscopy, an invasive procedure which is presumed to find all colon cancer. Many people, however, are unwilling to undergo a colonoscopy, an uncomfortable procedure that requires anesthesia.
"A simple, non-invasive test that detects tumor-specific products with reasonable sensitivity and specificity might overcome barriers to screening among persons who are not willing to have a more invasive test, such as colonoscopy," said Dr. Thomas Imperiale, professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
"There are many reasons why people don't get screened for colon cancer," said Dr. Imperiale. "Some individuals do not want colonoscopy because of discomfort despite conscious sedation, its inconvenience, or its risk for complications; others are unwilling to smear stool samples on a card for the occult blood test every year."
The stool DNA panel test, which requires a single sample expelled from the body directly into a container, gives people who are not getting screened with any of the currently available methods, another noninvasive option.
Source:Medical Week staff, week of Dec. 23, 2004
|
HOME PAGE
