[Sensitivity of the haemoccult test in colorectal tumours (author's transl)]

157 patients with histologically investigated colorectal tumours from 5 hospitals of the University of Munich were tested with the Haemoccult test. In 30 (35.7%) of 84 patients with malignancy of the colon and in 31 (58.5%) of 53 patients with adenomas or polyps the correctly performed test was negative. The test result showed no dependency on age or sex of the patient, nor on size, stage or localisation of the tumour. A problem-orientated history lowered the rate of false negative tests to 2.4%. The high rate of false negative results was not attributable to organisational or technical errors.