A new study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, notes that national guidelines recommend that FOBT testing be done with stool samples collected at home, as opposed to in-office testing, which is ineffective because it misses 95 percent of cancers or polyps that may become cancer, according to the release.
Study researchers analyzed data from the 2006-2007 National Survey of Primary Care Physicians’ Recommendations and Practices for Cancer Screening conducted by the National Cancer Institute in collaboration with CDC and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and evaluated whether there has been improvement since 2000, when an earlier study revealed that many primary care physicians used inappropriate methods to implement FOBT, according to the release.
The current survey included 1,134 primary care physicians who reported ordering or performing FOBT at least once per month. Of the physicians who reported that they ordered or performed FOBT, 25 percent said they used in-office FOBT exclusively, and about 53 percent reported using both home and in-office tests, according to the release. Also, 61 percent of primary care physicians used the standard guaiac-based FOBT, while use of the more sensitive guaiac-based test and the fecal immunochemical tests was significantly lower.
The study also found that 93 percent of physicians reported using colonoscopy as a follow-up to a positive FOBT, as recommended in national guidelines, according to the release.
Researchers concluded that education efforts were need to inform physicians about recommended screening practices and to raise awareness about the newer, high-sensitivity tests.
Read the CDC’s release on FOBT screening for colon cancer.
