A screening test kit may be the latest weapon in the fight against colorectal cancer. The kit is being used as a part of a pilot project called the Colon Check program.
"Patients will be able to in the privacy of their own home do a simple test which will then be sent back to a central laboratory," says Dr. Dennis Petrunia, an advisor with the program.
So far, the program has been launched in Penticton, B.C., where residents between the ages of 50 and 75 can call a toll-free number to get involved.
"They phone us and we send them a test kit, a free test kit, which you use at home," says Dr. Mark Elwood of the B.C. Cancer Agency. "It's completely painless and it's not uncomfortable like a mammogram or a pap smear."
The kit is easy to use and doesn't have any diet or medication restrictions like the older versions of the test.
"The big difference it is only reacts to human hemoglobin, whereas the other tests would give a reaction sometimes because of meats you had eaten and sometimes because of fruits and vegetables," says Dr. Elwood.
The new test is also more accurate.
"We anticipate the test will be 80 per cent sensitive in that range," says Dr. Petrunia.
If an abnormality is detected, the individual is contacted to undergo further tests.
The goal is to detect colorectal cancer earlier.
"If it's caught earlier, it is extremely preventable and that's the principle of screening is to diagnose a condition before it has symptoms," says Dr. Petrunia.
If the program is a success, the provincial government plans to expand it across the province.
"We'll look at the results including the overall costs and so on and we'll decide or the government will decide if this is the way we should go for the future," says Petrunia.
Cancer societies support universal screening, and say research from around the world shows this kind of program can help save lives.
For more information, please call: 1.877.702.6566.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dr. Rhonda Low
