dem Interview in CLP zu dem Thema
CLP: In practice, what does the tests specificity of 80% tell clinicians?
Taapken: Specificity indicates the percentage of patients that the test is correctly able to identify as healthy. A specificity of 80% means that 20% of the patients that our test picks up as positive do not have colorectal cancer.
In other instances, a specificity of 80% might not seem to be high enough. But in this case, patients with a positive result will be referred to undergo a colonoscopy, which is the first-line screening method recommended in current practice guidelines. So, in effect, the specificity level of the Epi ProColon test means that more people will be referred into the recommended standard of care.
Such referrals also help with the preventive effect of screening. In our studies, we have observed that a significant number of patients who received a positive result and were referred to undergo a colonoscopy wind up having adenomas or polypsand sometimes tumorsresected at the same time.
Doheny: In a recent study, we found that more than 58% of patients who received apparent false-positive test results, and subsequently underwent reflex colonoscopy, were found to have an adenoma, polyp, or some other form of actionable medical condition. So medically, this testing protocol enables clinicians to identify potential lesions during a colonoscopy, and to remove them before they become malignant. |