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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 Ahlquist said the newer DNA screening method is already approved and available for patient use.
"And subsequent generations will come out -- in a year or two -- with improved performance features," he noted, "which means that DNA test accuracy is only going to get better. So, this is a very promising alternative approach that is unfolding here, that we should pay attention to."
Dr. Donald Garrow, a clinical gastroenterology fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said that DNA testing can be very helpful in combating colon cancer by giving doctors a way to motivate patients to take the next gold-standard screening step in the form of a colonoscopy.
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"Fecal DNA tests are wonderful, in that they may spark more people to get a colonoscopy," he said. "They can never replace a colonoscopy. But if a trusted doctor comes to a patient and says that their DNA test has come back positive, that may be the form of encouragement the patient needs to go in for the colonoscopy."
Taking a fresh look at the benefits of more traditional testing, another article published in the same journal noted that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is updating its prior 2000 screening recommendations with an eye to increasing life expectancy.
The USPSTF will now recommend that patients between the ages of 50 and 75 get screened for colorectal cancer once yearly with blood tests, once a decade with a colonoscopy, or once every five years with a combination of blood testing and a flexible sigmoidoscopy (a less invasive alternative to a colonoscopy). Routine tests will not be promoted, however, for those between the ages of 76 and 85.
The new testing guidelines appear to now track the American Cancer Society's (ACS) screening position. Last week, the ACS reiterated similar testing protocols for men and women over the age of 50 who have an average risk for developing colon cancer, while urging those with higher risk -- due to a personal and/or family history of the disease -- to begin screening at an even earlier age.
More information
For more about colon cancer screening, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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