Uncertainty Over DAT Testing

Dr. Kimberly Lovett was frustrated. Her patient had tested positive on the fecal occult blood test used in colon cancer screening, and as a primarycare doctor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, Lovett knew the next step in confirming the diagnosis was a colonoscopy. “But why can’t you order the blood test?” demanded her patient, determined to avoid colonoscopy at all costs. Lovett responded that such a test doesn’t exist, yet the patient was adamant that it did—he claimed to have seen it advertised by a Web-based company that sells blood biomarker analyses. After a tense conversation, Lovett’s patient was convinced that the ad had misled him, but he left bewildered, wondering why a company can claim it can diagnose colon cancer when it can’t. Many practicing physicians wonder the