Noninvasive Colorectal Cancer Tool Shows Unprecedented Detection Rates

Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers today, but the good news is that a new research has found an effective screening tool called the colorectal screening. According to the researchers, the new screening tool has a 98% sensitivity success rate for detecting colorectal cancers

According to researchers, these findings are unprecedented for any non-invasive tool-based cancer screening imaginable! The test is designed to measure different changes in the DNA structure, including mutation and methylation and measures that fecal blood as well. Therefore, the efficacy of this test is higher the standard approach that has only the measure of fecal blood. By combining DNA and fecal blood measures, the new screening tool has been found to be more effective in testing and diagnosing precancers and cancers of the colon.

Although the screening method is to be embraced in its entirety, the U.S Food and Drug Administration says, the test could be a first stab to a long-searched for solution to precancers that develop into cancers. This is because the Cologuard test features a special DNA analysis that lacks in old fecal examinations. The fact that the pick-up rates are increased significantly means that the Cologuard test was more efficacious and accurate in detecting cancers at their earliest time possible.

Statistics about colon cancer are worrisome and going by the 2013 surveys conducted by the U.S National Cancer Institute, nearly 143,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the U.S only and about 50,000 people diagnosed with cancer die every year. Despite that these results make headlines every year, more than one-third of Americans don’t go for invasive colonoscopy screenings as recommended.

The fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) rely on tests on blood found in stool. The new test detects abnormal DNA from the tumor, and given that most lesions, including colon cancers don’t feature blood, this new approach is more effective. Cancer-screening methods have not been effective in detecting certain advanced-stage polyps, because precancerous growths of the colon are usually flatly located on the right hand side of the colon, making it difficult to detect them at colonoscopy.

A study aimed at testing the accuracy of the new cancer test found that the DNA test successfully detected 60 out of the 65 cases while the FIT test identified 48 cases with an estimated 74% accuracy rate compared to 92% of the DNA test.