Anton Bilchik Explains Occult Blood Testing

Many diseases, including cancer, do not cause symptoms until the condition grows worse and therefore more difficult to treat. Doctors perform screening tests to look for diseases in patients who have no symptoms. Physicians use fecal occult blood testing to screen patients for polyps in the digestive tract that could someday turn into cancer.

Dr. Anton Bilchik helps patients understand the test by explaining its name, “fecal occult blood.” In medicine, the word occult means hidden or unseen. The fecal occult blood test detects blood hidden in the patient’s stool, which indicates bleeding somewhere higher up in the digestive tract.

It is normal to have a little bit of blood loss during digestion. This miniscule amount of blood is invisible to the naked eye and does not cause a positive reaction on fecal occult blood testing. Sometimes polyps, or finger-like growths, develop along the digestive tract. These polyps, which can later turn cancerous, can become fragile and bleed when food brushes against them. A positive occult blood test tells the doctor the patient may have polyps that may someday cause problems.

Anton Bilchik assures patients that occult blood testing is easy and painless. The test requires the doctor or patient to smear a small amount of stool on special tissues or slides, and then apply a chemical indicator that shows the presence of blood. Dr. Bilchik recommends performing the test on three different samples, collected on three different days, to ensure accuracy, as many polyps only bleed when irritated by the passage of food.