Dr. Berger on Noninvasive Screening Tool for CRC

Barry M. Berger, MD, FACP, chief medical officer, Exact Sciences, discusses a study demonstrating the benefit of utilization of the Cologuard screening test for colorectal cancer (CRC).

Results of a study presented at the 2016 AACR Annual Meeting demonstrate an uptake in use of Cologuard in daily clinical practice, Berger explains. In the study, researchers sought to determine if they patients who were previously non-compliant with CRC screening would undergo the Cologuard test, which is defined as a multi-targeted stool DNA test.

This looked at a total of 400 patients aged 65 years and older who had not had a colonoscopy or stool-based blood test in 10 years. Eighty-eight percent of the non-compliant patients agreed to be screened via Cologuard.

Of that 88%, 51 patients tested positive—and 90% of this group went on to have a diagnostic colonoscopy. Four cases of early-stage CRC and 21 cases of advanced precancerous lesions were reported following the colonoscopy. This study correlates with earlier findings that led to Cologuard's FDA approval for patients aged 65 years and older, Berger says.

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