Quantitative Immunological Fecal Occult Blood Test Predicts Probability, Stage, and Location of Colorectal Cancer

抄録

Background Recently a quantitative fecal occult blood test has been developed. The aim of this paper is to show the usefulness of this method in detecting and treating colorectal cancer.
Method Asymptomatic 40, 356 subjects were examined by a 2 day immunological occult blood test using a colloidal gold reagent. One hundred ng/ml was chosen as the cut-off value and the subjects who had this value or more at the first or/and 2nd day examination were recognized as positive. The higher value in the two examinations was chosen for statistical analyses. Positive cases, 3, 066 were inves-tigated by the reports from the physicians of affiliated facilities who had performed further work up.
Results 1) The detection rate of colorectal cancers increased as the fecal hemoglobin values rose. 2) The cases whose fecal specimens were both positive had a greater probability of colorectal cancer and the cancers were more advanced than those in one-day positive group. 3) The mean hemoglobin values in colorectal cancer cases detected were higher than in cases without cancer. 4) The mean hemoglobin values in the advanced colorectal cancer cases were higher than in early cancers. 5) The hemoglobin values in the cancer cases located in the right hemi-colon were higher than those in the left one. 6) The cases of cancer detected at this year were almost negative by the fecal occult blood tests done one and 2 years previously.
Conclusion By quantifying hemoglobin values in immunological fecal occult blood tests, we are able to estimate the probability, stage of progress, macroscopic appearances or location of colorectal cancer. It is strongly recommended to perform the fecal occult blood test annually.