A new type of faecal occult blood test, EZ-Detect™, has been evaluated in 404 patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of colorectal disease. The test avoids handling of stools and gives a result which patients can read themselves - factors which may increase patient compliance. In comparison with the Haemoccult™ test, EZ-Detect has the same sensiti-vity for blood in laboratory conditions. In clinical use 98% of patients expressed a preference for EZ-Detect but it detected significantly fewer patients with cancer than did Haemoccult (P = < 0.05). In its present form, this type of test would be unsuitable for population screening for colorectal cancer even if improved compliance is achieved.
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