Annual FIT Testing Detects Colorectal Cancer Two Years Earlier Than Colonoscopy Alone, Study of High-Risk Popula...( SAN DIEGO May 20 /- An interim an...),Health

SAN DIEGO, May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- An interim analysis of a study presented today at the 39th Annual Digestive Disease Week (DDW) Conference found that, among patients at increased risk for colorectal cancer who completed an annual fecal immunochemical (FIT) test, detection of cancerous lesions occurred an average of 26.5 months earlier than would have occurred during the three- or five-year study-required colonoscopy. Detection of precancerous lesions in this group occurred 18.4 months earlier.

Data presented reflect results to date of the study "The Value of Interval Fecal Occult Blood Testing in Colonoscopy-Based Surveillance Program (CSP) for People at Increased Risk for Colorectal Cancer" conducted at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer of South Australia, in which individuals with a family or personal history of colorectal cancer or adenoma were entered into a CSP. In each intervening year between required colonoscopies, individuals were offered a FIT test to complete at home, using a brush sampling method to collect water-based samples for laboratory analysis. Study groups included a screening cohort (n=1736), broken down into a FIT cohort (n=1071) of patients who returned at least one valid interval FIT test with subsequent colonoscopy and a non-FIT cohort (n=665), comprised of patients who did not complete a FIT test. Study-required colonoscopies were scheduled at either three or five year intervals, according to the patient's medical situation.

The interim report showed that, while the same number of colorectal cancers were discovered in the FIT cohort (n=14) and the non-FIT cohort (n=14), colorectal cancers in the FIT cohort were detected an average of 26.5 months earlier than they would have been during a study-required colonoscopy.

Patients in the FIT cohort diagnosed with treatable Stage I (Dukes Stage A) cancer (n=5), were diagnosed an average of 17.5 months earlier than they would have been with a study-r
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