Rates rise with noninvasive test.

• Position: Colorectal Screening - Fecal immunochemical testing - Brief article

Sweeping changes should be made to the standard of care strategy for colorectal screenings, as the participation rates soar depending on the screening method offered and how patient outreach is done, maintains a University of California, San Diego, study, which also suggests that a noninvasive colorectal screening approach--such as a fecal immunochemical test (FIT)--might be more effective in prompting participation in potentially lifesaving colon cancer screening among underserved populations than a colonoscopy, a more expensive and invasive procedure.

FIT, a quick and easy test that requires no special preparation, detects small amounts of occult (hidden) blood in a patient's stool sample. Completed tests then are mailed to a laboratory for analysis. The findings showed that, with the help of a mail campaign, FIT participation tripled, and colonoscopy participation doubled...