Pass on this one
Colon cancer test called worthless
Study finds 95% detection failure
By Patrick Walters, Associated Press | January 18, 2005
PHILADELPHIA -- A common screening test failed to detect potentially cancerous colon growths 95 percent of the time, falsely reassuring patients and doctors, according to a new study.
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Researchers found that the digital in-office test on stool samples was not as reliable as a six-sample test given to patients to do on their own at home -- although even that test detected potentially cancerous growths less than 24 percent of the time.
"What we found is that it was pretty worthless," Dr. David Lieberman, one of the study's authors, said of the in-office test. "It's a wake-up call that we shouldn't be relying on this test."