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Updated: Apr 24, 2026
Evaluation of Colorectal Cancer Risk and Prevalence by Stool DNA Integrity Detection
Published on: June 8, 2020
Difference in performance of fecal immunochemical tests with the same hemoglobin cutoff concentration in a nationwide
Tsung-Hsien Chiang1, Shu-Lin Chuang2, Sam Li-Sheng Chen3
1Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Integrated Diagnostics and Therapeutics, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background & Aims:
We investigated whether 2 quantitative fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) with the same cutoff concentration of fecal hemoglobin perform equivalently in identifying patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).
Methods:
A total of 956,005 Taiwanese subjects, 50 to 69 years old, participated in a nationwide CRC screening program to compare results from 2 FITs; 78% were tested using the OC-Sensor (n = 747,076; Eiken Chemical Co, Tokyo, Japan) and 22% were tested using the HM-Jack (n = 208,929; Kyowa Medex Co Ltd, Tokyo, Japan), from 2004 through 2009. The cutoff concentration for a positive finding was 20 μg hemoglobin/g feces, based on a standardized reporting unit system. The tests were compared using short-term and long-term indicators of performance.
Results:
The OC-Sensor test detected CRC in 0.21% of patients, with a positive predictive value of 6.8%. The HM-Jack test detected CRC in 0.17% of patients, with a positive predictive value of 5.2%. The rate of interval cancer rate was 30.7/100,000 person-years among subjects receiving the OC-Sensor test and 40.6/100,000 person-years among those receiving the HM-Jack test; there was significant difference in test sensitivity (80% vs 68%, P = .005) that was related to the detectability of proximal CRC. After adjusting for differences in city/county, age, sex, ambient temperature, and colonoscopy quality, significant differences were observed between the tests in the positive predictive value for cancer detection (adjusted relative risk = 1.29; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-1.46) and the rates of interval cancer (0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.62-0.92). Although each test was estimated to reduce CRC mortality by approximately 10%, no significant difference in mortality was observed when the 2 groups were compared.
Conclusions:
Different brands of quantitative FITs, even with the same cutoff hemoglobin concentration, perform differently in mass screening. Population-level data should be gathered to verify the credibility of quantitative laboratory findings.
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