CHICAGO — Although it is more expensive to administer, colorectal cancer screening with a fecal immunochemical test is less expensive in the long run than a guaiac-based test because it detects more high-risk lesions and thus prevents more cancers, a cost-analysis study has concluded.
The fecal immunochemical test (FIT) had better adherence rates and detected more high-risk adenomas than did the guaiac-based test, making it a much better option overall, Dr. Rodrigo Jover said at the annual Digestive Disease Week.
Positivity rates were 9.5% with the FIT and 2% with the guaiac test. “This provoked a huge difference in the detection rate of high-risk adenoma and cancer: 34 per 1,000 screened, compared with just 5 per 1,000,” said Dr. Jover of the Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Spain.
Dr. Jover and his colleagues compared the first-round results of two regional colorectal cancer screening programs. The County of Valencia program invited 98,600 residents aged 50-69 years to be screened by mailing them a guaiac-based fecal occult blood test. The Region of Murcia program invited 35,700 residents of the same age to complete a FIT screen.
Dr. Jover had no relevant financial disclosures.