Fecal occult blood testing, a patient-administered test that is much less expensive than a colonoscopy, is a valid option for early detection of colon cancer, according to a report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Using a newer version of the test, called immunochemical FOBT, researchers found that among 28 people who were confirmed to have colon tumors after a colonoscopy, all but one also had a positive iFOBT result. However, about 10 percent of iFOBT results were false positives, but that is common for such testing.
Fecal occult testing, which looks for hidden blood in a person's stool, can be done once a year at home.
Read the CMA Journal report on fecal occult testing being effective to colon cancer screening.
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