Mayo Clinic to offer at-home colon cancer test


Save Story

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) — Doctors at the Mayo Clinic are offering a new way for patients to be tested for colon cancer.

The Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1tPcCY3 ) reports officials announced Monday the Rochester clinic will be the nation's first to provide patients with a new at-home colon cancer test. The Cologuard test recently won government approval as the first such test that uses patients' DNA to detect warning signs in stool samples. Patients mail the samples to be tested.

A gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic, David Ahlquist, co-invented Cologuard and both he and Mayo share equity and royalties under a licensing agreement. The test will only be available through prescriptions from the clinic's primary care doctors.

Mayo officials say the alternative to a colonoscopy should lead more adults to get tested. Although colon cancer is preventable through proper screening, 23 million Americans ages 50 to 75 don't follow screening recommendations.

___

Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

___

Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent U.S. stories

Related topics

U.S.
The Associated Press
    KSL.com Beyond Series
    KSL.com Beyond Business

    KSL Weather Forecast

    KSL Weather Forecast
    Play button