Well, that's a relief

[dreamshark]

 Did you know that it is now possible to do a colon cancer screening at home instead of going through the horrors of a  colonoscopy?  My last colonoscopy results were so good that they said, "Looks great! Come back in 10 years."  But it's been well over 10 years and I just haven't been able to make myself go through that again. To my surprise, HealthPartners sent me an invitation to use the Virtuwell Home Screening program instead, so I jumped at it. They sent me their cleverly designed sampling kit, I returned the requisite sample, and got this welcome news back today:

Your fecal immunochemical test (FIT) is negative.

A negative FIT screening is good news! It means the lab didn’t detect any blood in your stool, one of the most common signs of colorectal cancer.

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If you don’t have other symptoms or risk factors, add a reminder to your calendar to get another FIT screening in one year. FIT screenings are important early warning tests for possible colorectal cancer – you’ll get the same benefit from taking a FIT screening every year as you would from getting a colonoscopy every 10 years. An annual FIT screening is one of the easiest ways to stay on top of your health and stay ahead of any potential problems.

It's hard to believe that this simple procedure is as effective a screening tool as exploring the entire large intestine with a camera, but if they say so I am happy to believe it. 
 

Comments

[pameladean]

I've been doing this since I failed colonoscopy prep twice in 2007, but it wasn't nearly so widely recommended when I started, and there was a general strong, "Well, you'll just have to have a colonoscopy ANYWAY if this test shows anything amiss!" vibe, with a "So stop being a giant baby" subtext; but by now I expect they have a lot more data, so it may well be just as good. And nobody has done the giant-baby subtext for about five years.

P.

[dreamshark]

I'd imagine that you would have to have more tests if this one detected a problem. I mean, that kind of goes without saying, right? But the real question is not the prevalence of false positives; it's false negatives. I hope that the apparent greater acceptance of the FIT screening is because it is effective, not just because Virtuwell is doing such a great job of marketing.

[pameladean]

My doctor seems perfectly satisfied with it, but some of the nurses were very stroppy indeed.

The stroppiness stopped before Virtuwell really got going on it, though.

P.