The Role of Fecal Occult Blood Test in Screening of Colorectal Cancer and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Colorectal cancer (CRC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are a quite common colon disease in the world. The World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) recommends screening test to detect colorectal cancer, i.e. fecal occult blood test (FOBT) and colonoscopy. Diagnosis of CRC is established based on a good history taking, clinical manifestation, physical examination and laboratory examination. Other supporting laboratory tests include routine laboratory test of hemoglobin for detecting anemia, examination of bleeding stool either macroscopically or microscopically. Radiographic examination, either colon in loop or colonoscopy (if such modalities are available), shall be performed to confirm the occurrence of cancer mass in the colon. Moreover, biopsy examination is carried out to obtain the histopathological feature of tumor mass or the type of cancers. WGO has made a guideline for CRC screening, which consists of 6 cascades, which depend on the risk of colorectal cancer and local facilities available. There are several kinds of FOBT, but the most frequently used include three methods, i.e.: the FOBT guaiac base/traditional, the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) and the FOB + transferrin rapid test (OT 102c & OT 103c). FIT and FOB + transferrin rapid test have a quite high sensitivity and specificity in detecting the lower gastrointestinal tract bleeding caused by colorectal cancer and IBD

Detection of Helicobacter Pylori Infection with Stool Antigen: Comparison with Other Techniques

Helicobacter pylori has been known as a cause of chronic gastritis, a predisposition to gastric and duocenal ulcers, and a class I gastric carcinogen. Throughout the world, H. pylori infection is very common, reaching 40% -50% of the population in developed nations and 80% – 90% of the population in developing nations. Several techniques have been used to detect H. pylori infection, such as the urea breath test, rapid urease test, serological test, as well as biopsies of gastric or duodenal tissues for culture and histopathology. In this review article, we will discuss a relatively new method to detect H. pylori antigen in stools with enzyme immunoassay, and comparisons with other standard techniques. However, the H. pylori stool antigen test is not yet commercially available in Indonesia