Researchers examined 31 studies with 120,255 patients and 18 separate fecal immunochemical tests.
What they found:
1. A 10 µg/g threshold resulted in a sensitivity of 0.91 and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.10 for CRC.
2. A greater than 20 µg/g threshold resulted in a sensitivity of 0.95 and a positive likelihood ratio of 15.49 for CRC.
3. However, for advanced adenomas, a 10 µg/g threshold resulted in a sensitivity of 0.40 with a negative likelihood ratio of 0.67 and a specificity of 0.95.
4. A greater than 20 µg/g threshold resulted in a in a specificity of 0.95 and a positive likelihood ratio of 5.86 for advanced adenomas.
5. Researchers found FIT tests had “adequate” performance.
Researchers concluded, “Single-application FITs have moderate to high sensitivity and specificity for CRC, depending on the positivity threshold. Sensitivity of one-time testing for advanced adenomas is low, regardless of the threshold.”
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