A new test from Rhythm Biosciences has the potential to detect a type of colon polyp often missed by colonoscopies, according to Stockhead.
Here are four key facts:
1. The ColoSTAT test looks for biomarkers in the blood stemming from cancerous sessile-
serrate polyps.
2. Despite significant advances in colonoscopy imaging technologies, they still aren’t a foolproof method for those types of polyps, Trevor Lockett, PhD, CEO of Rhythm Biosciences told Stockhead. The problem with serrated polyps is that they are often flat and harder to detect during colonoscopies, he said.
3. “During pre-colonoscopy screening these flat serrated polyps are knocked around less by the digesta of the gut as it passes by, leading to a reduced frequency of bleeding relative to the more common hyperplastic polyps,” Dr. Lockett said. “This means a lower detection rate by the standard pre-screening test, FIT.”
4. The ColoSTAT test is two years away from being commercialized, and has clinical trials planned in Australia for early 2019.