Colonoscopy is the gold standard for detecting colon cancer, but unfortunately, many people are not willing to have this lifesaving procedure as advised by their health care providers. Even though colonoscopy is not nearly as "bad" as many people fear, it's tough to convince everyone who should get this cancer screening test to do so.
Now, researchers in Japan have developed a new, less-invasive, screening technique for colon cancer, with the hope of turning it into a standard colon cancer test that more people are willing to undergo. This high-tech approach looks for certain genetic "markers" or forms of DNA - the genetic material that contains all the instructions for building and running the body - in a stool sample. If present, these genetic markers can indicate that a person likely has colon cancer.
For the study, the researchers created a new laboratory technique to identify the presence (or absence) of these cancer genetic markers in a stool sample and tested it on 296 people. The people in this tested group had a known cancer of the colon or the stomach, or had pre-cancers (adenomas), in the colon.
The new screening test correctly identified 75% of people with colon cancer, 57% of those with stomach cancer, and 44% of people with pre-cancerous growths in the colon. While not perfect, the test did correctly detect three-fourths of the colon cancers in this group of people. This means that as a screening technique, the test will require some additional tweaking to improve it's accuracy.
These findings are exciting, because with time and a bit more research, this, and other new techniques will provide non-invasive options for detecting colon cancer. This, in turn, means that colon cancer can be discovered earlier in more people, which greatly improves the odds of successful treatment and cure.
