PreGen-Plus Test Now Widely Available to Screen for Colorectal Cancer

PreGen-Plus™, a DNA-based stool test for the early detection of colorectal cancer, is now widely available for use by physicians in screening patients for colorectal cancer, according to EXACT Sciences Corporation.

When the PreGen-Plus test is ordered by a physician, a patient receives collection materials to use in collecting a single, whole stool in the privacy of home. The patient then returns the collection materials to LabCorp for testing.

Unlike the widely used fecal occult blood test (FOTB), PreGen-Plus does not require any special bowel preparation, stool handling and/or alteration in diet or medications prior to testing.

While PreGen-Plus is not viewed as reliable in screening for colorectal cancer as a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy, studies have suggested that it is significantly better than FOBT.

"Colonoscopies and sigmoidoscopies are invasive and costly. The FOBT is unpopular because of the necessity to scrape samples off your stool and it only tells you if blood is present, not cancer," said Priscilla Savary, Executive Director of the Colorectal Cancer Network.

"The DNA screening test is cost-effective, non-invasive, and if it detects the earliest stages of cancer it has a chance to increase survival rates from this terrible disease," she added.

Other sources: EXACT Sciences