IFOBT blood in stool
If you have a referral from your practitioner, you can take this colon screening test, by sending a little stool to our laboratory. It's as simple as running a mascara roller through your stool, putting it in the tube, and then sending the tube in the mail to the lab.
Starting in 2014, Dutch people between the ages of 55 and 75 will receive a call every two years to submit stool samples. This stool will be checked for blood traces. Blood traces can possibly indicate colon cancer, but may also have another cause.
This test is only for people up to age 55, after that you are covered by the population screening, where you will be tested for colon cancer for free every two years until age 75. Read information about the population screening here . The gold standard for follow-up testing after a positive result from the population screening is a colonoscopy. If you have blood traces in your stool, you will be offered further investigation into the cause of the blood traces.
When you will be sent an invitation depends on your year of birth. If you don't want to wait for this, you can also order this test yourself here.
Participants are given a stool test, which they themselves send to the laboratory for analysis. If blood is found in the stool, the test result is positive. In that case, you will first be called for consultation by our medical team and referred for further investigation if necessary.
The stool test is only for people who have no complaints.
Click here for instructions in Dutch
click here for instruction English
click here for more information from the maag lever darm stichting
The IFOBT test is NOT intended for risk groups.
Someone belongs to a risk group if they: have had colon cancer or colon polyps before or have complaints such as:
- visible blood loss in the stool
- empty urge
- unexplained weight loss
- anemia
- if the stool pattern has changed recently
- has a first-degree relative (father, mother or child) who has contracted bowel cancer before the age of 50.
- two first-degree relatives who developed colon cancer after the age of 50.
- knows that there is a form of hereditary colon cancer in the family.
In all these cases, careful examination is needed, usually including a bowel examination. Your family doctor will refer you for this. An IFOBT test does not provide sufficient certainty in these cases.
You better not collect a sample of your stool if you see blood in your
stools due to menstruation.
