- Colorectal Cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S
- It is the 2nd leading cause of cancer related deaths
- American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends that adults aged 45–75 years undergo screening.
- 20% higher incidence in black persons rather than white, with fatality rate 40% higher in blacks.
What is Colorectal Cancer?
- Most Colorectal Cancers (CRC) begin as a growth, or lesion, in the tissue that lines the inner surface of the colon or rectum.
- Lesions may appear as raised polyps, (a growth that protrudes from a mucous membrane) that may be attached to the inner surface of the colon or rectum with or without a stalk.
- Colorectal polyps are common in people older than 50 years of age, and most do not become cancer. However, a certain type of polyp known as an adenoma (tumor) most likely to become a cancer.
- Most CRCs develop from adenomas, among which “advanced” adenomas are considered to be the clinically relevant precursors of CRC.
How to screen for Colorectal Cancer
- Since polyps and Colorectal Cancers bleed tiny amount of blood it can’t be seen in feces
- The FDA has approved the Fecal immunochemical Test (FIT) tests to screen for Colorectal Cancer.
- A FIT test uses antibodies to detect hidden blood in the stool.
- Stool samples are collected by the patient using a kit and returned to the doctor.
- A positive finding with a FIT test is advised to be further evaluated by a physician.
How accurate is a FIT test?
- A positive FIT test does not mean that a person has Colorectal Cancer, a healthcare professional will advise the next steps.
- Pre-cancerous polyp or cancer can be missed if the polyps wasn’t bleeding when test was done.
- Sensitivity to Advanced Adenomas is about 40%, Am J Gastroenterol. 2020 Jan; 115(1): 56–69.
For those patients who have blood in stool or are FIT positive and are reluctant to have Colonoscopy performed, the ColoScapeTM test should be performed
ColoScapeTM – Colorectal Cancer Mutation Detection Test
- Blood test – convenient sample collection.
- Test analyzes 61 Genetic Mutations and 7 methylated markers associated with CRC.
- The test is intended for symptomatic patients and / or FIT positive patients
- Highly sensitive to pre-cancerous lesions and polyps growth before they progress into CRC.
- Highly Specific with 61 mutations associated with Colorectal Cancer.
- If ColoScapeTM test is Positive, the patient should seek the physician guidance.
- ColoScape has clinical sensitivity of 92.2% and specificity of 100% for CRC
- ColoScape 95% specificity and 62.5 % sensitivity for precancerous lesions or advanced adenomas
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0244332
