A simple home test for colon cancer can reduce the risk of dying from the disease by 33%
A simple home test for colon cancer can reduce the risk of dying from the disease by 33%, new research suggests.
The results show that an annual home FIT (fecal immunochemical test) test is “as good as a colonoscopy every 10 years to screen people at moderate risk,” said the study’s lead author, Ohio University School of Medicine professor Dr.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), FIT screening uses antibodies to detect blood in the stool, which is a sign of colon cancer or precancerous polyps.
For the study, researchers evaluated data from nearly 11,000 Kaiser Permanente patients who underwent home FIT testing between 2002 and 2017 in northern and southern California.
When doing a FIT test at home, people collect a stool sample at home and then send it to a lab for analysis.
Some people worry about colonoscopy, which is considered the “gold standard” for colon cancer screening, Doubeni said.
Screening with the FIT test reduced the risk of total death from colon cancer by 33% and the risk of left-sided colon cancer by 42%.
According to the Colorectal Cancer Foundation, left-sided colon cancer is more common than right-sided colon cancer.