[Clinical experience with occult blood test in 8784 patients (author's transl)]

The faeces of 8784 patients were tested for occult blood, using the "Haemoccult-II" method. 347 (4.0%) gave at least one positive result. Endoscopic examination of the gastrointestinal tract was performed in 301 patients. In 62.8% of cases the lesion responsible for the bleeding was located in the lower gastrointestinal tract, in 17.6% in the upper gastrointestinal tract. In 19.6% no cause was found for the positive test. In 133 out of 301 haemoccult-positive patients (44.2%) tumours were identified as sources of bleeding. Our results were compared with the findings obtained with other screening programmes for colorectal carcinomas. Haemoccult-II test are recommended as a yearly routine procedure for early detection of colorectal tumours.