good morning and welcome back March is
colon cancer awareness month and when it
comes to screening for the disease an
annual stool test might be just as
effective as a colonoscopy according to
some researchers analyzed more than
120,000 average-risk patients who used a
stool test and then a colonoscopy they
found an at-home test just as effective
as screening for colon cancer doctors
hope this will get more people to test
for colon cancer presumably at home on
their own perhaps here to talk more
about these findings is dr. Leah
Rabinowitz with UF health thank you so
much for coming in this morning
thank you talking with us a very current
very relevant topic given that it is
March and it's colon cancer awareness
month let's talk about FI t-tests and
how effective they are right 91 percent
yes so amazing tester fecal
immunochemical test also known as an
at-home stool test yes so it's a test
that the patient can complete at home in
the privacy of their home at their
convenience and it's a test that's about
91% effective for picking up colon
cancer what it does is it looks at
microscopic blood in the stool or
invisible to the naked eye
and it picks it up and that can be
indicative of a colon cancer
what are some other indications of colon
cancer
sure so unfortunately it's a very wide
variety usually abdominal or belly pain
blood in the stool a change in your
bowel movements mucus in the stool or
weight loss we should mention to these
tests these stool tests these fitt tests
also known as fit tests can be done once
a year and they're less invasive than a
colonoscopy here in endoscopy yes
absolutely so there's not just the fit
test but another one called the cola
card they're both at home they're
non-evasive
the fit test is done once a year for
low-risk patients whereas the color
guard is done once every three years now
the cola guard is also a fit test or
looks for the blood in the stool but the
cola cart also looks for DNA after
ladies okay so that's the difference
between the fit test and the colocar
test one year and in three years now
might a gastroenterologist order all of
these tests is that unlikely um that's a
little more unlikely it's a conversation
you really want to sit down either with
your family doctor or internist and talk
about your risk level so these are
screening tests at home available for
low-risk patients meaning you don't have
a family history of colon cancer or a
personal history you don't have
inflammatory bowel disease such as all
sort of colitis or Crohn's disease and
you don't have any of those symptoms
that we just talked about okay so if you
have any of those things or a family
history or personal history you really
should go directly to the colonoscopy
and have that conversation with that
doctor and we also should mention to
these tests are not always looking for
colon cancer they could be diagnosing
problems such as chronic problems that's
just Crohn disease and other types of
problematic issues that's right 35
percent of people who need screenings
don't get it because they don't want to
have that colonoscopy vision to some of
their privacy they feel uncomfortable
correct absolutely
all my people almost all of my patients
have a lot of apprehension about
scheduling the colonoscopy because they
have to take a day off work they have to
have someone come and pick them up they
worry about that colon prep you're put
out though for these procedures you are
situations yes it's your you're not
awake for it and at what age should
folks start having colonoscopies or
endoscopy if they're not having issues
right so if you're a low-risk patient
you want to start the screening at age
50 okay now the American Cancer Society
just changed their recommendation to
start at age 45 because younger and
younger people are being diagnosed with
colon cancers I believe it's a general
trend in our society of increasing rates
of obesity and diabetes people aren't as
active as they should be we're eating
more processed diets processed foods and
that's really increasing the rates for
those at home really quick we're very
interested in getting a colon or not
interested in getting a colonoscopy but
want to learn more about these stool
tests where can they go are they insured
yes they are
so you want to see your again primary
care provider you can get the fit
testing or kulig are testing through
them but then also sometimes your
insurance companies can mail them to you
to your home so you don't have to go in
for an appointment the other thing about
these at-home testings is that generally
they're much less expensive than the
colonoscopies so for patients who are
uninsured it may be an option absolutely
and again if you are having symptoms any
signs any abnormalities have a
conversation with your general
practitioner they can further you along
to a specialist we thank you so much for
coming in and talking about thank you
for having me thank you