Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents the 3rd most common tumor worldwide and the 6th in Egypt.
It is still burdened by significant morbidity and mortality despite several therapeutic improvements. A gold
standard for early detection and non invasive diagnosis is lacking. Aim was to assess faecal tumor M2-PK™
(ScheBo test) for detection of CRC.ln Adult Egyptians
Methods: This cross-sectional, case-control study was carried out on 66 subjects. The cases group comprised
46 consecutive treatment- naïve patients with sporadic CRC proved by colonoscopy, histopathology and
abdominal computed tomography which all together helped in tumor staging with TNM and Duke's staging
systems. Twenty apparently healthy subjects (without CRC and with normal colonoscopy) served as the control
group (age and sex matching the cases group). Faecal tumor M2-PK™ (ScheBo test) was assessed in all the
study subjects.
Results: Cases were 24 males and 22 females with a mean age of 50.6 ys and the range was 22-81ys. Age
ditribution showed 12 cases (26%) below 40 and 50% above 50 ys. Bleeding per rectum was the main
presenting symptom (39%) followed by recent onset constipation (34.8%) in the studied cases. Rectal lesions
were found during colonoscopy in 47.8% of cases while colonic lesions were found in 52.2%. Mass was the
most encountered gross pathology (in 67.4%, 31 cases) followed by ulcer (in 28.3%, 13 cases) and stricture (in
4.3%, 2 cases). Adenocarcinoma was the commonest type (76.1 %, 35 cases) followed by mucinous
adenocarcinoma (15.2 %, 7 cases). The fecal levels of tumor M2-PK were significantly higher (P |
