THE POTENTIAL OF NEW SCREENING-TESTS FOR COLORECTAL-CANCER TO ENHANCEPATIENT ACCEPTABILITY

Underutilization of colorectal screening stems from patient unacceptab ility of the tests. We review the characteristics of current screening diagnostic modalities (fecal occult blood testing [FOBT], digital rec tal examination, and sigmoidoscopy) which may affect patient acceptabi lity and also assess test sensitivity and specificity. These features are compared with the four new modalities: immunochemical fecal occult blood testing (IFOBT), urinary acetylspermidine testing, Sham's test of rectal mucus, and the structuredness of the cytoplasmic matrix (SCM ) in peripheral blood test, the latter two still experimental. We beli eve that some immediate improvement in patient acceptability and physi cian enthusiasm can be expected from the use of IFOBT and Shams' test and that features of both urine and SCM blood tests will eventually co ntribute to widely acceptable colorectal cancer screening techniques.