Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Fecal occult blood
Summary
Fecal occult blood (FOB) refers to blood in the feces that is not visibly apparent (unlike other types of blood in stool such as melena or hematochezia). A fecal occult blood test (FOBT) checks for hidden (occult) blood in the stool (feces).
The American College of Gastroenterology has recommended the abandoning of gFOBT testing as a colorectal cancer screening tool, in favor of the fecal immunochemical test (FIT). The newer and recommended tests look for globin, DNA, or other blood factors including transferrin, while conventional stool guaiac tests look for heme.
Fecal occult blood testing (FOBT), as its name implies, aims to detect subtle blood loss in the gastrointestinal tract, anywhere from the mouth to the colon. Positive tests ("positive stool") may result from either upper gastrointestinal bleeding or lower gastrointestinal bleeding and warrant further investigation for peptic ulcers or a malignancy (such as colorectal cancer or gastric cancer). The test does not directly detect colon cancer but is often used in clinical screening for that disease. It can also be used to look for active occult blood loss in anemia or when there are gastrointestinal symptoms.
An estimated 1–5% of large tested populations have a positive fecal occult blood test. Of those, about 2–10% have cancer, while 20–30% have adenomas. Screening methods for colon cancer depend on detecting either precancerous changes such as certain kinds of polyps or on finding early and thus more treatable cancer. The extent to which screening procedures reduce the risk of gastrointestinal cancer or deaths depends on the rate of precancerous and cancerous disease in that population. gFOBT (guaiac fecal occult blood test) and flexible sigmoidoscopy screening have each shown benefit. Other colon cancer screening tools such as iFOBT (immunochemical fecal occult blood test) or colonoscopy are also included in guidelines.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related lectures (1)
Vitamin D Deficiency and Anemia
Analyzes a case study of a woman with vitamin D deficiency and anemia.
Related publications (12)
Thermal Stress Interacts With Surgeonfish Feces to Increase Coral Susceptibility to Dysbiosis and Reduce Tissue Regeneration
Dysbiosis of coral microbiomes results from various biotic and environmental stressors, including interactions with important reef fishes which may act as vectors of opportunistic microbes via deposition of fecal material. Additionally, elevated sea surfac ...
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2021Related concepts (17)
Colorectal polyp
A colorectal polyp is a polyp (fleshy growth) occurring on the lining of the colon or rectum. Untreated colorectal polyps can develop into colorectal cancer. Colorectal polyps are often classified by their behaviour (i.e. benign vs. malignant) or cause (e.g. as a consequence of inflammatory bowel disease). They may be benign (e.g. hyperplastic polyp), pre-malignant (e.g. tubular adenoma) or malignant (e.g. colorectal adenocarcinoma). Colorectal polyps are not usually associated with symptoms.
Blood in stool
Blood in stool or rectal bleeding looks different depending on how early it enters the digestive tract—and thus how much digestive action it has been exposed to—and how much there is. The term can refer either to melena, with a black appearance, typically originating from upper gastrointestinal bleeding; or to hematochezia, with a red color, typically originating from lower gastrointestinal bleeding.
Lower gastrointestinal bleeding
Lower gastrointestinal bleeding, commonly abbreviated LGIB, is any form of gastrointestinal bleeding in the lower gastrointestinal tract. LGIB is a common reason for seeking medical attention at a hospital's emergency department. LGIB accounts for 30–40% of all gastrointestinal bleeding and is less common than upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). It is estimated that UGIB accounts for 100–200 per 100,000 cases versus 20–27 per 100,000 cases for LGIB.