New Non Invasive Test For Detection Of Tumors Of The Colon Is More Accurate Than Previously Used

New Non Invasive Test For Detection Of Tumors Of The Colon Is More Accurate Than Previously Used.
A additional noninvasive check-up to read pre-cancerous polyps and colon tumors appears to be more accurate than advised noninvasive tests such as the fecal occult blood test, Mayo clinic researchers say. The researching for a highly accurate, noninvasive alternative to invasive screens such as colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy is a "Holy Grail" of colon cancer research. In a prior trial, the new try was able to identify 64 percent of pre-cancerous polyps and 85 percent of full-blown cancers, the researchers reported.

Dr Floriano Marchetti, an subordinate professor of clinical surgery in the division of colon and rectal surgery at University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, said the untrodden study could be an important adjunct to colon cancer screening if it proves itself in further study. "Obviously, these findings requisite to be replicated on a larger scale. Hopefully, this is a good start for a more reliable test".

Dr Durado Brooks, leader of colorectal cancer at the American Cancer Society, agreed. "These findings are interesting. They will be more fascinating if we ever get this kind of data in a screening population".

The study's lead researcher remained optimistic. "There are 150000 rejuvenated cases of colon cancer each year in the United States, treated at an estimated price of $14 billion," noted Dr David A Ahlquist, professor of c physic and a consultant in gastroenterology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "The hallucinate is to eradicate colon cancer altogether and the most realistic approach to getting there is screening. And screening not only in a motion that would not only detect cancer, but pre-cancer. Our test takes us closer to that dream".

Ahlquist was scheduled to endowment the findings of the study Thursday in Philadelphia at a meeting on colorectal cancer sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research. The redesigned technology, called the Cologuard sDNA test, innards by identifying specific altered DNA in cells shed by pre-cancerous or cancerous polyps into the patient's stool.

If a DNA distortion is found, a colonoscopy would still be needed to confirm the results, just as happens now after a unquestionable fecal occult blood test (FOBT) result. To see whether the test was effective, Ahlquist's group tried it out on more than 1100 frozen stool samples from patients with and without colorectal cancer.

The check was able to detect 85,3 percent of colorectal cancers and 63,8 percent of polyps bigger than 1 centimeter. Polyps this extent are considered pre-cancers and most likely to progress to cancer.

The receptibility of the test is much better than what has been seen in other stool screening tests, the ACS' Brooks added. "But, showing that in a unpretentious group of samples is very different from demonstrating that in a population where only a small number of individuals are going to have polyps of that size. Then we will have knowledge of if this is a big step forward".

According to Ahlquist, Cologuard is the first noninvasive proof to detect pre-cancerous polyps. In addition, the test is the only one that is able to identify cancer in all locations throughout the colon, something which other tests either can't or don't do well. One more advantage: patients do not destitution to do any extra preparation before taking the test, something that other tests require.

Ahlquist noted that the test still needs to be refined. "We highbrow there are still some bugs and we can make the test even better". Cologuard is not yet available for sale. Clinical trials comparing the examine with colonoscopy are slated to start next year. Ahlquist hopes that the test will be approved and present within two years.

Ahlquist noted that the cost of the test has not yet been established. It is expected to rate more than a fecal occult blood test, but far less than a colonoscopy. A fecal occult blood exam can cost as little as $23 while a colonoscopy can total $700.

Another benefit is that it would probably need to be done once every three years, while the fecal impenetrable blood test is usually done yearly. Savings over time on a more spot on test done fewer times could justify the higher cost of the Cologuard test. In two other presentations at the meeting, researchers have linked latchkey gene variants to the risk for colon cancer and also to the forecast of the disease.

In one study, researchers found that people who have long telomeres, the small strips of DNA that shield the ends of chromosomes, have a 30 percent increased risk of developing colon cancer. "Even for the crowd their age, their telomeres were longer than you'd expect for healthy people," outstrip researcher Dr Lisa A Boardman, an associate professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, said in a statement. "This suggests that there may be two distinct mechanisms that affect telomere space and that set up susceptibility to cancer".

In the other study, a research team led by Kim M Smits, a molecular biologist and epidemiologist in the GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, uncovered a flabbergast when it came to a gene changing on the KRAS gene called the G variant. This variant, elongate linked to poorer outcomes in advanced colorectal cancer, as a matter of fact predicted a better prognosis in early-stage colon cancer. "You would intuitively think that the G varying would be associated with a poorer prognosis, as it is in late-stage colorectal cancer, but that is not the case," Smits said in a statement kannada. Experts theme out that studies presented at scientific meetings do not have to pass the rigorous peer analysis of studies published in reputable journals.