New Non Invasive Test For Detection Of Tumors Of The Colon Is More Accurate Than Previously Used

New Non Invasive Test For Detection Of Tumors Of The Colon Is More Accurate Than Previously Used.
A fresh noninvasive assess to locate pre-cancerous polyps and colon tumors appears to be more accurate than tendency noninvasive tests such as the fecal occult blood test, Mayo clinic researchers say. The quest for a highly accurate, noninvasive alternative to invasive screens such as colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy is a "Holy Grail" of colon cancer research. In a precedence trial, the new examine was able to identify 64 percent of pre-cancerous polyps and 85 percent of full-blown cancers, the researchers reported.

Dr Floriano Marchetti, an aide-de-camp professor of clinical surgery in the division of colon and rectal surgery at University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the brand-new evaluation could be an important adjunct to colon cancer screening if it proves itself in further study. "Obviously, these findings fundamental to be replicated on a larger scale. Hopefully, this is a good start for a more reliable test".

Dr Durado Brooks, chief of colorectal cancer at the American Cancer Society, agreed. "These findings are interesting. They will be more engaging if we ever get this kind of data in a screening population".

The study's lead researcher remained optimistic. "There are 150000 renewed cases of colon cancer each year in the United States, treated at an estimated fetch of $14 billion," noted Dr David A Ahlquist, professor of pharmaceutical and a consultant in gastroenterology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "The fancy is to eradicate colon cancer altogether and the most realistic approach to getting there is screening. And screening not only in a modus vivendi that would not only detect cancer, but pre-cancer. Our test takes us closer to that dream".

Ahlquist was scheduled to announce the findings of the study Thursday in Philadelphia at a meeting on colorectal cancer sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research. The recent technology, called the Cologuard sDNA test, mill by identifying specific altered DNA in cells shed by pre-cancerous or cancerous polyps into the patient's stool.

If a DNA distortion is found, a colonoscopy would still be needed to confirm the results, just as happens now after a supportive fecal occult blood test (FOBT) result. To see whether the test was effective, Ahlquist's crew tried it out on more than 1100 frozen stool samples from patients with and without colorectal cancer.

The assay was able to detect 85,3 percent of colorectal cancers and 63,8 percent of polyps bigger than 1 centimeter. Polyps this immensity are considered pre-cancers and most likely to progress to cancer.