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Readability and sensitivity of a new faecal occult blood test in a hospital ward environment. Comparison with an established test.
- Source :
-
The Medical journal of Australia [Med J Aust] 1992 Mar 16; Vol. 156 (6), pp. 420-3. - Publication Year :
- 1992
-
Abstract
- Objective: To compare the readability and sensitivity of a new guaiac faecal occult blood test, HemoccultSENSA, with those of a standard guaiac-based test, Hemoccult, in a normal working environment.<br />Design: The two tests were performed in parallel on routine clinical and contrived faecal specimens; those developing the tests were blinded as to the test type.<br />Setting: All tests were carried out in the hospital ward environment under normal conditions by nurses working in the ward.<br />Samples: Fifty faecal samples from healthy volunteer subjects (low concentrations of haemoglobin were added to 40 of these samples) and 145 faecal samples from 65 inpatients likely to have gastrointestinal bleeding.<br />Main Outcome Measures: Test positivity rate, and graded measures of colour intensity, colour stability and colour pattern.<br />Results: With patients' samples, the new test gave a greater number of positive results than the standard test (73.1% v. 65.5%; 95% confidence interval of the difference, 3.3%-11.9%). With contrived samples, the blue colour produced during development was more intense (P less than 0.0003), more stable (P less than 0.0025) and covered a larger area (P less than 0.01) with the new test compared with the standard test.<br />Conclusions: These results demonstrate the better readability and slightly higher sensitivity of the new test. They justify its use in the ward environment or doctor's office. Patients being tested should consume a low peroxidase diet until the specificity of the new test has been fully evaluated.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0025-729X
- Volume :
- 156
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The Medical journal of Australia
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 1545750
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.1992.tb139848.x