The General Directorate of Health (DGS) has ordered the discontinuation of the use and analyzes of the screening test for colorectal cancer Hémoccult II, in favor of the new OC Sensor test, more efficient and more practical. A problem, however, since this new test is still not available on the market, while the old one was deleted on January 31. As a result, thousands of patients are deprived of their test results, which will simply be destroyed, reports Le Figaro. About 11,000 French people would be affected, even if the DGS would have indicated that they did not “yet have the number of unread tests. “
The DGS sent the regional health agencies an instruction explaining that “to ensure the best possible transition period between the two types of test”, it was necessary to stop distributing the old one and to stop analyzing them beyond the January 31. People who have performed the first Hemoccult II test will be invited to perform screening again “as soon as the tests are available”, specified the DGS.
A new test that is long overdue
Unfortunately, patients deprived of results will still have to wait before being fixed, since the new OC Sensor test should not be available until May. For the time being, and while the month of “blue March” devoted to colorectal cancer screening is in full swing, the screenings are stationary.
A paradox all the more marked as the old test had made it possible to detect more than 8,500 cancers and 21,300 adenomas (benign tumors) in 2009-2010, still according to Le Figaro.
Originally scheduled for 2013, the long-awaited new test will be easier to use and more efficient. In particular, it will make it possible to detect 2 to 2.5 times more cancers and 3 to 4 times more adenomas than the old test. It will only require a single stool sample, compared to six previously, and will be 100% covered by social security as part of the screening organized for the 16 million French people aged 50 to 74.
Remember that colorectal cancer is the 3rd most frequent cancer and the 2nd deadliest in France, with 42,000 new cases (23,200 men and 18,900 women) each year. However, this type of cancer is cured in 9 out of 10 cases if it is detected early, health authorities said in a statement.
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