Campaign to Increase Compliance with Take-Home Colorectal Screening Test

The campaign aims to break down barriers to compliance with fecal occult blood tests and increase screening with convenient take-home screening tools. The goal of the new campaign is to have five million people complete their annual testing over the next five years.

In the United States, nearly 60 % of women have an annual Pap test (for cervical cancer) and as many as 79 % of men receive prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening every year for prostate cancer. In one randomized clinical study, only 31 % of patients (n = 1818) completed an at-home colorectal screening test. Despite the availability of these convenient and effective diagnostic tests, nearly 150,000 men and women in the United States will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, and one-third of these patients will ultimately succumb to the disease. When found early and treated, the five-year relative survival rate for colon cancer is 90%, but less than 40% of colorectal cancers are found early.

Fecal occult blood tests (FOBTs), including the newer fecal immunochemical tests (FITs), detect blood in the stool that might indicate colorectal cancer or other lower gastrointestinal diseases. These screening tests help identify individuals that are candidates for colonoscopy, even if they do not have overt symptoms of colorectal cancer. This may mean the disease is in its early, more treatable stages, or that they may have precancerous polyps that can be removed during colonoscopy.

Quest Diagnostics (Madison, NJ, USA) is launching the campaign at the end of Cancer Awareness Month "because we want people to remember that this disease strikes every day of every month,” said Stephen C. Suffin, M.D., the company's clinical pathologist and interim chief laboratory officer. "Our Challenge is designed to encourage people 50 and over and those at risk to complete annual screening with American Cancer Society [ACS] recommended tests, such as the FDA-[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]-approved, InSure FIT test and its painless, noninvasive Blue-Brush Method.”

The Challenge urges individuals to talk to their healthcare providers about annual colorectal cancer screening using the InSure FIT take-home test, developed by Quest, and in turn, to challenge friends and family members to "have the guts” to get screened, too. Challenge participants can also send an attention-grabbing "Happy, Healthy Colon” e-card to friends and relatives as a reminder to be screened annually. Medical professionals can access the latest scientific data on InSure FIT, up-to-date colorectal cancer screening guidelines and resources, and patient education materials that can help guide discussions with their patients about colorectal cancer screening.

Quest Diagnostics is a provider of diagnostic testing, information, and services that patients and doctors need to make better healthcare decisions. The company offers access to diagnostic testing services through its national network of laboratories and patient service centers, and provides interpretive consultation through its medical and scientific staff.


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