FAECAL DNA TESTING

Clinical accuracy data on faecal DNA tests is still too limited to support population screening. However, molecular tests offer hope for the future of risk-free screening tests.

National recommendations United Kingdom

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/bowel/ offers screening every two years to all men and women aged 60 to 69 by faecal occult blood testing. Around 2 in 100 people will receive an abnormal result. They will be referred for further investigation and usually offered a colonoscopy. 
 For a population of patients >50 years undergoing screening colonoscopy 5-6% can be expected to be found to have cancer or an advanced colonic polyp (an abnormal growth of tissue). See also the links for Colon Cancer and Rectal Cancer