Replacing the guaiac fecal occult blood test with fecal immunochemical testing may increase the number of patients who undergo colorectal cancer screening, according to a recent study. To reach that conclusion, investigators performed a retrospective observational study of 7,898 patients aged 50 and 75 years at the VA San Diego Healthcare System. Their analysis of patients’ electronic medical records and manual reviews of colonoscopy and pathology reports found:

• 3,236 patients had the guaiac procedure (33.4%) while 4,662 had the fecal immunochemical test (42.6%).
• Advanced cancer was detected in a higher percentage of patients who had the fecal immunochemical test (0.79%), when compared to those who had the guaiac test (0.28%).

Based on their results, the researchers recommended that all healthcare systems consider replacing the guaiac with fecal immunochemical test.