New Home Test Could Help Fight Colon Cancer
New Home Test Could Help Fight Colon Cancer – Starting Monday, millions of people who have avoided colon cancer screening can get a new home test that’s noninvasive and doesn’t require the icky preparation most other methods do.
The test is the first to look for cancer-related DNA in stool. On one hand, the test could greatly boost screening for a deadly disease that too few people get checked for now. On the other hand, it could lure people away from colonoscopies and other tests that, unlike the new one, have been shown to save lives.
Many current stool tests look for blood that could suggest a tumor. Cologuard does this and also detects DNA that could be a sign of cancer or precancerous growths called polyps. People send a stool sample to a lab where it is tested.
The test was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last month and will be offered by prescription at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where it was developed, and soon nationwide. It’s called Cologuard and is sold by Exact Sciences Corporation of Madison, Wisconsin.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and the fourth worldwide.
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