Simple stool test may detect many cancers

updated 9:32 a.m. ET June 2, 2009

CHICAGO - Using just a stool sample, doctors may be able to detect colon and many other cancers of the digestive tract including stomach, pancreatic, bile duct and esophageal cancer, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They said the test, which detects genetic material shed from the surface of cancer cells, found nearly 70 percent of cancers present in a group of patients with assorted cancers of the digestive tract.

And the test accurately showed negative results in all 70 healthy patients they tested, Dr. David Ahlquist of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota told the Digestive Disease Week meeting in Chicago.

Researchers at Mayo designed the stool sample test as a noninvasive way to find colon cancer, but they now believe it could help detect many different types of cancers of the digestive tract.

"It's very exciting to see this level of sensitivity for digestive cancer detection in our first look at this test application," Ahlquist said in a statement.

The test looks for evidence of DNA changes shed from the lining of the colon and rectum. Cells from the surface of cancerous tumors and precancerous polyps show recognizable DNA changes or markers.

Several of these DNA markers have been identified and can be isolated in stool samples from people with colon and rectal tumors.

For the study, the team tested 70 patients with various cancers of the digestive tract, including colon, throat, esophagus, stomach, pancreatic, bile duct, gallbladder and small bowel to see if gene mutations could be found in stool samples. They also used the test on 70 healthy patients.

The stool sample test found 65 percent of esophageal cancers, 62 percent of pancreatic cancers and 75 percent of bile duct and gallbladder cancers.

And it found 100 percent of both stomach and colorectal cancers. The test worked equally well on early and late-stage cancers.

"Historically, we've approached cancer screening one organ at a time," Ahlquist said, but he said stool DNA test could open the door to early detection of cancers above the colon which are currently not screened.

Both Ahlquist and Mayo have a financial interest in the test.

Gastrointestinal cancers account for about one in four cancer deaths in the United States, but currently, patients are only routinely screened for colon cancer.

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