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New DNA Stool Test May Help Detect Colon Cancer

As many as one third of Americans may forego a colonoscopy because they consider it embarrassing or uncomfortable. Home stool tests could provide a different type of detection for colorectal cancer.

A study in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that a new DNA stool test is more accurate than the older fecal immunochemical or FIT stool tests that are commercially available. Comparisons of the DNA test and the FIT test to colonoscopy showed that 154 individuals would need to be screened to detect one cancer with colonoscopy; 166 need to be screened to detect a single colon cancer with the DNA test and 208 individuals would need to be screened with FIT to detect one such cancer.

The bottom line seems to be that newer multi-target DNA stool tests can be helpful in early detection, but colonoscopies remain the gold standard.

[NEJM, March 19, 2014]

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About the Author
Terry Graedon, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and co-host of The People’s Pharmacy radio show, co-author of The People’s Pharmacy syndicated newspaper columns and numerous books, and co-founder of The People’s Pharmacy website. Terry taught in the Duke University School of Nursing and was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. She is a Fellow of the Society of Applied Anthropology. Terry is one of the country's leading authorities on the science behind folk remedies..
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