A large pilot study of a new bowel cancer screening test has demonstrated a major increase in participation rates across population groups. The new data was presented by Bowel Cancer Screening Hubs and Queen Mary University of London at Cancer Research UK’s early diagnosis conference, which took place in London, in March 2015.
The pilot of the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) involved 40,000 people in the northwest, midlands and the south of England, and showed almost double the uptake than with the current test (guaiac faecal occult blood test or gFOBt) for those who had previously chosen not to participate (14.5% climbed to 25.6%).
Marked improvement in uptake was also observed in 60 year olds invited for the first time – an increase from 54.4% to 63.9%. For men of all ages there was an uplift from 57% to 65.5% participation. The authors also showed improvement in uptake across the socioeconomic spectrum with as great an overall increase among the ‘hard to reach’ deprived population as among the least deprived.
The new test only requires one stool sample while three are required for the current gFOBt. FIT uses a simple and cleaner sampling technique and comes in an easy-return postal package. The new screening test eliminates potential dietary interference and can measure very low concentrations of stool blood from bleeding colon cancers and pre-cancers.
