CU Cancer Center to Distribute FIT Tests for Colorectal Cancer at Community Events

The University of Colorado Cancer Center is distributing free colorectal cancer screening kits that can be utilized at residence, concentrating on uninsured folks throughout Colorado with decrease charges of screening for a most cancers that’s the No. 2 explanation for most cancers deaths.

As a part of the initiative, individuals who check optimistic within the preliminary spherical of screening will get assist from affected person navigators to schedule a follow-up diagnostic colonoscopy check, the price of which will probably be coated with assist from donors.

The aim is to distribute 1,000 fecal immunochemical checks (FIT) by yr’s finish to uninsured folks between ages 45 and 75 at neighborhood well being gala’s and different occasions statewide, says Jan LoweryPhD, MPH, assistant director for dissemination and implementation on the CU Most cancers Middle’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE).

One such distribution occasion is the Aurora Wellness Community Health Fairto be held March 30 from 10 a.m. to three p.m. at Aurora Science & Tech Center College, 2540 N. Scranton St., simply north of the College of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The truthful can even supply varied medical screenings, vaccinations, psychological well being steerage, and extra.

Future FIT distribution areas are being organized now. This system will decide up steam from late spring by means of the autumn months, Lowery says. “Our crew members are actively reaching out to search out neighborhood organizations which might be doing well being gala’s and different neighborhood occasions and asking if we are able to come to offer schooling and hand out the kits.”

No particular preparation

FIT is a kind of stool-based check that detects occult (hidden) blood within the stool, which could be a signal of colorectal most cancers. The consumer collects a stool pattern after which sends it to a lab in packaging provided with the package. Not like a colonoscopy, a FIT check may be administered at residence, and it doesn’t require a particular weight loss program or preparation.

> Colonoscopy vs. Stool-Based Tests: What is the Best Way to Detect Colorectal Cancer?

“We hand out the checks to individuals who qualify, people who’re both uninsured or who don’t have a medical residence,” Lowery says. “Individuals acquire the pattern themselves at their residence, then mail it to the lab. Our crew follows up by calling of us again and giving them the lab outcomes.”

If folks utilizing the FIT kits check obtain a optimistic outcome, “the advice is that they endure a colonoscopy,” Lowery says. “Our crew will assist navigate folks to get a colonoscopy if wanted. And we now have been very lucky to safe funding by means of donors to pay for colonoscopies for people who haven’t got insurance coverage.”

These donors embody the Colon Cancer Coalition and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

In accordance with the National Cancer Institutein 2021, an estimated 72% of U.S. adults between ages 50 and 75 have been updated with some type of colorectal most cancers screening, however that price was decrease for Hispanic adults (63%), lower-income folks (61%) and other people with lower than a highschool schooling (57%).

“We all know that people with out insurance coverage are much less prone to be updated with colon most cancers screening, so we’re concentrating on that inhabitants,” Lowery says. For individuals who have insurance coverage, the price of colorectal most cancers screening is usually coated.

‘A giant public well being downside’

The CU Most cancers Middle final yr distributed FIT kits by means of well being gala’s organized by the nonprofit 365 Well being, previously 9Health Truthful. However 365 Well being shut down final September, so COE has spent the previous few months reorganizing its FIT check outreach program, switching to varied different neighborhood well being gala’s and occasions, Lowery says.

Within the 2023 program, COE attended 36 well being gala’s throughout the state, distributing 650 FIT kits, of which 140 check outcomes have been returned, together with 22 irregular checks. All 22 of these individuals have been navigated to a diagnostic colonoscopy. Up to now, no polyps or cancers have been discovered amongst final yr’s individuals.

Christopher LieuMD, the CU Most cancers Middle’s affiliate director for scientific analysis and an affiliate professor of medical oncology, says there are 150,000 new diagnoses of colorectal most cancers in america every year, “so it’s a giant public well being downside.”

In Colorado, the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates there will probably be 2,130 new circumstances of colorectal most cancers identified in 2024, making it the fourth commonest most cancers kind behind breast, prostate, and lung/bronchus cancers. ACS additionally estimates 820 colorectal most cancers deaths this yr, trailing solely lung cancers.

No screening is ideal

In sufferers with colorectal most cancers, a FIT package will precisely detect the most cancers about 80% of the time versus a 99% accuracy price for a colonoscopy.

No most cancers screening technique is ideal, “however the outdated adage is, the very best screening check is the one which will get executed,” Lieu says. “If it will get executed, it’ll assist save lives.”

He provides: “As a result of a FIT check doesn’t require the process and the prep of a colonoscopy, it’s definitely lots simpler. With a mass-distribution program like this, you’re going to get much more folks with some stage of testing than you’ll in any other case.”

Lieu notes that if the FIT check is optimistic, “it doesn’t essentially imply that you’ve most cancers. There are many different causes for blood to be detected within the stool, the commonest of which being plain outdated hemorrhoids. If it’s optimistic, it means, OK, we must always actually transfer on to a extra invasive and extra dependable check.”

As an alternative choice to attending an occasion, uninsured and underinsured folks can name COE at 720-441-2529 or e mail coe@cuanschutz.edu and, if they’re eligible, a check will probably be despatched to them. The voicemail message is in Spanish and in English.