What is the role for fecal screening tests for colorectal cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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While not perfect, colorectal cancer screening tests known as FIT tests are not just likely to be used more often, they’re poised to become the go to method for most. That’s one way of looking at efforts by Cologuard and others to continuously improve the performance of FIT, which was examined in a recent study and found to vary. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, says two factors are driving this.

Nelson: We need to scale out these prevention capabilities to people who can use them. As a humongous wave of in American medicine now rural hospitals closing across the country the accessibility of colonoscopy is actually diminished somewhat. So being able to develop these kind of tools and use them in practical ways, clearly there are people who think this is a good idea because that's why Exact Sciences continues to try and improve on its Cologuard tests it's the same logic.    :28   

The other driver is the increase in rates of colorectal cancer among those younger than age 50, with experts recommending both earlier and more frequent screening to catch these cancers early, when they are best treated. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.