One of the tests recommended by doctors for screening for colon cancer is Stool blood test, many types of colon cancers, as well as cancers of the stomach and small intestine, may be associated with blood in the stool.
In cases where there is no clear blood in the stool, the stool sample is examined for occult blood.
OBT It is one of the types of colon cancer screening in people over the age of fifty. In the following, you will read more about the Stool blood test for colon cancer.
what you will read next :
Colon cancer, clinical signs
- Abdominal cramps for no apparent reason
- Bloating
- Bloody stools, fatigue and weakness
- Decreased appetite
- Significant weight loss
- Changing bowel habits
- Constipation means defecation less than three times a week
- Feeling prematurely full
- Feeling of fullness in the abdomen and pelvis
- Iron deficiency anemia in men, and in postmenopausal women
Colon cancer screening
Items that can record OBT:
- Benign intestinal tumors such as noncancerous polyps
- Malignant colon tumors, malignant colon polyps
- Inflammation of the colon:
- Wounds
- IBD: Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis
Colonic diverticulitis
- Hemorrhoids
- Anal Fissure
What can make a stool blood test false-positive?
The following can be false-positives for a stool blood test:
- Red Meat
- Beets
- Turnip
- Vitamin C supplements
- radish
- Radishes
- Cauliflower
- carrot
- Chicken
- fish
- Cucumber
Remember that if you are going to have a blood fecal test, do not consume samples of these substances forty-eight to seventy-two hours before.
Be sure to tell your doctor about your medication list three days before the test, because it may be necessary to discontinue some medications for two to three days as prescribed by your doctor.
How to do a stool blood test for colon cancer
From the laboratory, you will be given three sterile containers for collecting samples with a special applicator.
Put a small amount of stool in just one container with an applicator.
It is necessary to collect stool samples three times, because bleeding in some colon cancers is not continuous and daily, so you should collect the samples in three different days and deliver the three containers to the laboratory for examination.
Interpretation of fecal blood test in colon cancer
Keep in mind that there is always normally a small amount of blood in the feces of all healthy people.
Stool occult blood detection cysts are designed to ignore this normal amount and if there is more blood, they test positive.
If you have an annual OB test and now the result is negative, it means there is no blood in your stool, then you do not need additional action and you should go until next year and repeat the annual stool blood test for colorectal screening.
If the test is positive, your doctor will perform a colonoscopy for you, depending on your condition.
A stool blood test alone will not confirm the presence of colon cancer, and the doctor will need to find the source of the blood with a colonoscopy.