A study published in Gut examined whether annual fecal immunochemical testing could reduce reliance on surveillance colonoscopy.
Researchers recruited immediate risk patients (between 60- and 72-years) and had them take FITs at either one, two or three year intervals postpolypectomy. Participants who tested positive for elevated hemoglobin levels in year one or two were offered colonoscopies early, while everyone was offered a colonoscopy at year three.
Here's what they found:
1. Seventy-four percent or 5,938 study participants received a FIT in year one. Of that group, ninety-seven percent repeated the FIT in years two and three.
2. The three-year cumulative positive rate was 13 percent. Twenty-nine percent of participants had hemoglobin rates of 10 µg/g.
3. Twenty-nine participants were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 446 with advanced adenomas.
4. Respectively speaking, program sensitivities for advanced adenomas and CRC were 59 percent and 33 percent at 40 µg/g and 72 percent and 57 percent at10 µg/g.
5. Costs were significantly lower for detecting adenomas and CRC through FIT.
Researchers concluded, "Replacing colonoscopy surveillance in intermediate-risk patients with annual FIT could reduce colonoscopies by 71 percent [and] significantly cut costs but could miss 30 percent to 40 percent of CRCs and 40 percent to 70 percent of AAs."