Acceptability of a faecal occult blood screening protocol for carcinoma of the colon in family practice.

Abstract

Cancer of the colon is the second most common malignancy in North America and screening methods are needed for diagnosing the lesions at an early stage. Faecal occult blood screening is a method of secondary prevention which is particularly adaptable to the family practice setting. In order to test the feasibility of using this test in family practice, 16 family physicians participated in a trial screening programme using the Hemoccult II test. During the two-month trial 776 patients over 40 years of age were screened; 19 of the tests were positive but in two cases patients were thought to have failed to follow dietary and medical restrictions. Of the 17 patients with verified positive tests, further investigation showed five patients had neoplastic disease and three of these had malignant disease. The detection rate for cancer of the colon using the Hemoccult II test was therefore 3/776, equivalent to 3.9 per 1000 cases screened. By narrowing the age range for screening patients to between 45 and 75 years, the time involved to screen the population at risk could be decreased.