Colorectal cancer screening: yield of faecal occult blood testing

The incidence of colorectal cancer is rising and increasing public awareness of this condition has stimulated interest in screening tests. Colorectal cancer is treatable and curable in its early stages and clear benefits are present if the cancer can be detected in its early stages. Sensitivity of the faecal occult blood test (FOBT) by immunochemical techniques for colorectal (CRC) cancer screening has been reported as 67% to 89% in certain population screening programs. Although much work has been done to address screening of colorectal cancer in the community, not much has been done to establish what the expected outcomes of screening are in a cohort of voluntary asymptomatic individuals. This paper retrospectively reviews the findings in such a cohort who sought health assessment (including a FOBT) at a Health Screening Centre in a tertiary hospital in Singapore over the period of 2002 to 2007. The outcomes are discussed together with references to other relevant studies on faecal occult blood test screening of CRC.