unochemical Fecal Occult Blood Test–Positive Individuals

Downlo kground: We aimed to define the potential of the fecal DNA assay as an alternative or in addition to rrently used immunochemical fecal occult blood test (iFOBT) for the early diagnosis of colorectal . thods: A total of 560 individuals aged 50 to 69 years with a positive iFOBT were recruited from an FOBT regional screening program. Twenty-six were diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, 264 with isk adenoma, and 54 with low-risk adenoma, whereas 216 subjects did not have premalignant or ant lesions. Fecal DNA integrity was analyzed blindly by the fluorescence long DNA (FL-DNA) test. ults: iFOBT and FL-DNAwere largely independent variables (rs = 0.036, P = 0.42), with values ranging 01 to 5,826 ng/mL and from 0 to 515 ng, respectively. Median values of both variables were signifihigher in cancer patients than in patients with noncancerous lesions or in healthy individuals. MoreiFOBT and FL-DNA values were individually associated with a number of pathologic parameters. ntial use of the diagnostic iFOBT and FL-DNA methods showed that fecal DNA provided more accuiagnostic information and was able to identify subgroups at different risk of cancer in iFOBT-positive duals. clusions: A combined approach based on FL-DNA and iFOBT evaluation could help to better identify ctal cancers and to determine a patient's risk of harboring a preneoplastic or neoplastic lesion. Further tion in a screening setting is needed to confirm this hypothesis. evalua Impact: Fecal DNA could be a useful tool to better predict cancer risk in FOBT-positive individuals. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(10); 2647–54. ©2010 AACR.