Take-home test

While it may be unpleasant, doctors say at-home testing for the second deadliest cancer in the province is life-saving.

The Regional Cancer Care Northwest is asking people 50-years-old and older to make the best of a sticky situation by taking an at-home test for colorectal cancer, a disease that kills more than prostate and breast cancer. The disease killed 4,800 people in Ontario last year, second only to lung cancer.

But the disease is 90 per cent curable if detected early.

Unfortunately, only 30 per cent of adults older than 50 are screening themselves, said preventative oncology director Alison McMullen.

"We have a long way to go because we’d like to at least have 80 per cent of eligible adults who are men and women 50 years of age or older," McMullen said. "Not enough people are being screened."

The fecal occult blood test can be picked up from a family doctor or nurse practitioner. Screening needs to be done every two years and a letter is sent to remind people that they need to take the test again, McMullen said.

"It’s very convenient once you’re entered into the program," she said.

The fecal occult blood test detects small amounts of blood, which would be invisible to the eye, in a person’s stool. Samples are taken three different times within a 10-day period.
The kit includes a postage-paid envelope so the test can be sent away once completed.

If technicians discover any abnormalities, a colonoscopy is usually recommended. Otherwise, a reminder will be sent every two years to take the test again.

Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation CEO Glenn Craig said the sticky situation campaign is new this year.

"We’re really trying to take a lighthearted approach to a very serious issue here," he said. "We’re really trying to encourage people to get the kit and take the test."

And while it may be unpleasant, Craig said the test is better than the alternative.

"It’s far more pleasant than undergoing colorectal cancer treatment," Craig said.