Faecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT) is Cost Effective Compared to Colonoscopy

The new NICE guidelines [NG12] for ‘Suspected cancer: recognition and referral’ have recommended Faecal Occult Blood Testing (FOBT) as a cost effective method in primary care, for detecting colorectal cancers in people aged 40 or older with a change in bowel habit.

Laboratories who embrace the newer technology of qFIT can provide a more proactive service to their community whilst enjoying the productivity benefits of an automated system such as ?HM-JACKarc from Alpha Laboratories.

The NICE publication reverses the original decision from 2004, to cease guaiac based testing, which has resulted in a significant decline in FOBT since then.

Technological progress in FOBT has centred on Faecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT), which carries significant advantages over the original guaiac based test. Quantitative FIT (qFIT) results have demonstrated greater sensitivity for cancers and high risk adenomas than guaiac and it is accepted that increasing detection levels of faecal haemoglobin (f-Hb) are indicative of higher risk of pathology.

The new guidelines now show that FIT is ‘Cost effective compared to colonoscopy and when assessed using the dominance rank method it becomes the most cost effective test’. This will stimulate a resurgence of requests for occult blood tests from primary care.