Fecal-Ocult Blood Test (FOBT)
This year about 130 000 Americans will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Some of them will be in the early stages and the treatment will save their lives. But many of them won’t have this chance because they will be diagnosed when the disease is already spreading in their body.
For cancers, early detection is very important, practically the most important prognosis factor. There are forms of cancer in which early detection is just a matter of luck (for instance pancreatic cancer). But for colorectal cancer there are screening tests and early detection is saving thousands of lives each year.
The American Cancer Society currently recommends that people at average risk for colorectal cancer begin screening at the age of 50 with an annual 3-sample fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and a flexible sigmoidoscopy every 5 years. They also recommend that a colonoscopy should be performed every 10 years and every time a FOBT is positive.
But what is fecal occult blood test? It is a simple test that detects any trace of blood in your stool. Practically all you have to do is to collect samples from your stool and take them in a recipient to the lab. They will find any trace of blood, no matter how small it is. I know there is a kit for home; practically you can do the test by yourself in your own bathroom at home.
A positive test doesn’t mean you have colorectal cancer, it just means it is a source of bleeding in your bowel and you need more tests (a colonoscopy is the first test). A negative test means you are not bleeding from your bowel so you probably don’t have a tumor there (benign or malignant).
Recently, results from an 18-years study indicated that biannual FOBT is reducing the incidence of colorectal cancer.
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