Cologuard home test kit for colon cancer screening

Posted by grrranny @grrranny, Jun 18 10:12pm

What do you all think of the Cologuard at-home non-invasive colon cancer screening test -- either as a substitute for, or pre-cursor to a colonoscopy?
https://www.cologuard.com/

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Colorectal Cancer Support Group.

barjar | @barjar | Jun 19 8:24am

I was refused Cologuard by my insurance co and by
Cologuard, despite it being prescribed by my oncologist.
It is not advised for high risk patients.

rjjacobsen | @rjjacobsen | Jun 19 11:05am

Lots of posts here about Cologuard. A quick recap...

First, it's better than nothing, but it has a reputation for false positives. Research is ongoing for a more accurate replacement test. Cologuard is a screening test, not a diagnostic test - it's relatively cheap, easy, fast, but is inaccurate.

If you have a history of cancer in your family, some physicians recommend skipping the Cologuard and doing the colonoscopy without a preceding Cologuard. A colonoscopy is considered the "gold standard" for detecting cancer and pre-cancerous polyps.

So, if you have one and are positive, treat it as if it's a indicator for further testing (colonoscopy) and not as an indicator of cancer.

In short - don't panic after a positive ColoGuard test, but follow up with a colonoscopy.

More information:
https://www.healthline.com/health/cologuard#drawbacks
https://www.gastroconsa.com/the-truth-about-cologuard-tests/