The stool for the occult blood test, also called a faecal occult blood test (FOBT), checks the presence of blood in stool that is not visible to the naked eye. The blood in the stool is indicative of some kind of bleeding in the digestive tract, which can be indicative of conditions like polyps, ulcers, and colorectal cancer.
It is recommended:
For screening digestive tract bleeding, which may be a cause of colon cancer, asymptomatic ulcerated lesions of the GI tract, polyps, haemorrhoids, diverticulosis, and colitis (a type of inflammatory bowel disease).To evaluate unexpected anaemia.
The Stool Occult blood test measures:
The FOBT measures whether there is any blood in a stool sample using a chemical reaction.
Invisible blood in the stool can be a screening test for carcinoma colon (a type of cancer) and can help in early diagnosis and management.
Most cases of colon cancer begin with benign intestinal polyps, which are relatively common in people over the age of 50. Mostly, these polyps may have not caused any health problems, but some can become cancerous.
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