Nova Scotia resumes colon cancer screening kit program after problems fixed

Colon cancer screening

HALIFAX - Nova Scotia has resumed its mailout of home screening kits for colon cancer, seven months after the program was suspended because technicians detected unusually high rates of abnormal test results.

Dr. Bernard Badley, medical director of the province's colon cancer prevention program, says the manufacturer has given assurances that it fixed the device and the screening kits are working as they should.

When it announced the suspension of the program in May, the government said a monitoring system that tracks the kits discovered positive test results had doubled.

At the time, Badley said the manufacturer determined that the chemical agent used to detect elevated levels of blood in samples was too sensitive.

Before the problem was detected, about four or five people out of every 100 who took the test were found to have an abnormal amount of blood in their stool sample, on average.

But the number of abnormal results later doubled to about 10 out of 100, causing Badley to examine his program's processes and then to contact the manufacturer.