Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. But it doesn’t have to be. By getting screened, you have the power to significantly reduce the odds of colon cancer impacting you and your family. Learn more below and discuss your screening options with your doctor. The Labcorp ColoFIT TM kit may make sense for you.
When colon cancer is found and removed before spreading, the chance of long-term remission is fantastic—around 90% of patients survive beyond 5 years! But if the cancer has spread outside the colon, the chance of living beyond 5 years drops to only about 15%.
What can you do to prevent colon cancer? Colon cancer can take as long as 10 to 15 years to develop, which gives you lots of time to do something about it. It’s important that you talk to your doctor and develop a colon cancer screening plan that is right for you. It could save your life.
You have probably heard about colonoscopy and what it entails, but did you know there is a trusted home screening option for people of average risk? A fecal immunochemical test, or FIT, is a noninvasive test you can complete in the comfort of your own home.
Understand your risk factors and talk with your doctor to see if a Labcorp ColoFIT kit is right for you.
With multiple testing options available, you are more empowered than ever to catch and prevent life-threatening diseases like colon cancer. Learn how to take proactive steps to keep your gut healthy.
Colon cancer. You might not want to think about it, but as the third leading cause of cancer deaths in adults in the United States, it is certainly worth talking about with your doctor. Let’s learn the basics and what you can do to improve your odds.
The American Cancer Society recommends that everyone ages 45 to 75 get screened for CRC.
As new age guidelines emerge and more cases appear in people under 60, Labcorp and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance have teamed up to hear from 2,000 people who need screenings—working to identify where the barriers lie.
The most important thing to understand is, colon cancer can be prevented or caught early and treated. Knowing your personal risk factors allows you and your doctor to make smart choices about what screening methods to use and how frequently to use them.
There are risks for colon cancer that you cannot change. It is important to be aware of these risks and communicate them to your doctor.
Age is one of the most important risk factors for colon cancer that you cannot change. The risk for colon cancer increases as you get older. The American Cancer Society recommends that everyone, beginning at the age of 45 years, get screened for colon cancer.
If someone in your family was diagnosed with colon cancer at any stage, it is important information to share with your doctor. Try to remember the health information you know about your relatives —especially immediate family members like your parents and siblings—and share it with your doctor when you discuss recommendations for your health screenings.
Having certain health conditions like inflammatory bowel disease or type 2 diabetes can increase your risk for developing colon cancer. Also, certain genetic mutations and inherited conditions (ie, Lynch syndrome or familial adenomatous polyposis) can increase your risk.
The risk for colon cancer is not equally distributed across races and ethnicities. Colon cancer is more commonly seen in black individuals than in people of other races. People of Ashkenazi Jewish descent also appear to be at higher risk for colon cancer than people of other ethnicities.
There are risks for colon cancer that you cannot change. It is important to be aware of these risks and communicate them to your doctor. These risk factors are aspects of your lifestyle that you can change:
Eating a diet rich in red and processed meats has been strongly linked to colon cancer. Furthermore, eating a fiber-rich diet of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has been shown to reduce colon cancer risk.
Your days in P.E. class may be far behind you, but finding ways to stay physically active and maintaining a weight that is healthy for you are things you can work on throughout your life to reduce your colon cancer risk.
If you drink, drink less. If you smoke, make every effort to quit. Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking have some of the strongest links to colon cancer.
People are accomplishing more than ever before from the comfort of their own homes. You can work from home, shop from home, order groceries from home— why not screen for colon cancer at home, too? The Labcorp ColoFIT kit makes annual colon cancer screening a seamless and private process. Learn more about how Labcorp helps people at average risk for colon cancer take control of their colon health—from home!
Your FIT Kit comes with everything you need to collect and mail your sample to Labcorp
Only a 0.01-gram stool specimen is required to perform the FIT test—less than other at-home screening methods
With a negative result, you can be 99.8% certain that no precancerous or cancerous changes are taking place in the colon
The Labcorp ColoFIT kit test uses a self-collected stool sample to look for abnormalities that might mean precancerous or cancerous changes are happening in your colon. The test is designed to detect traces of hidden (“occult”) blood in your stool. This is blood that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Blood in the stool can have multiple possible causes, but sometimes it’s the first and only sign of precancerous conditions or early-stage cancers in the colon.
If the test detects an abnormality in your stool, it is not a colon cancer diagnosis.
Getting a positive ColoFIT test result means you’ll need to get follow-up testing to determine the source of blood in your stool. The follow-up tests (such as colonoscopy) will be used to identify the source of blood, make a diagnosis, and guide the approach to treatment. A negative ColoFIT test result means that no blood was detected in the stool at the time of testing.
A negative result is a reliable indicator that no cancerous or precancerous changes are taking place in the colon. People with a negative ColoFIT test result should repeat the test in 1 year in consultation with their doctor.
