Why does Bowel Cancer screening concern me?

• Big C:  4th Biggest Cancer in the UK (42000 new cases/year) 

• Serious: 2nd Biggest cause of death in the UK (16300 deaths/year) 

• ​Not treated seriously: uptake of screening is poor leading to more late diagnosis and poor prognosis

• ​Under 50s: 10% colorectal cancer cases are diagnosed in under 50s** and 73% diagnosed at later stage** (under 50s)

How is screening done in the UK?

• 55-59yrs:  One time colonoscopy(subject to availability)

• 60yrs+: FIT( Faecal immunochemical Test) 

• Anytime: Symptomatic patients can see their own GP for assessment for referral to gastroenterology for a colonoscopy. This requires a referral,  consultation, procedure date,bowel prep and time off work.

Is there an alternative in the meantime?

ColoAlert®  is an award winning innovation and new to the UK  

There is no other test like it

It combines the conventional FIT test with advanced German engineered sDNA technology (stool DNA)

They work in combination to detect blood (FIT test) and mutated DNA (sDNA) for the early detection of Bowel Cancer (Colorectal Cancer) before any symptoms or bleeding may occur. This offers a better early detection than faecal occult blood tests alone. Bowel cancer can be cured if detected early. ColoAlert detects 85 % of colorectal cancer cases and often in very early stages of the disease.****

Also available in the UK at our partner clinic Pallmall Medical. 

ColoAlert® makes Bowel Cancer screening simple, fast and precise.

What are the symptoms of Bowel Cancer?

Bowel cancer may have no symptoms during the early stages of the disease but there may be some early warning signs. The symptoms of Bowel cancer may not develop until the disease has progressed into stage II or beyond***

Early warning signs of colorectal cancer

Most cancers in the colon or rectum develop from polyps, so screening to find and remove them when they first form helps prevent them from growing into cancers.

Common early warning signs of Bowel cancer include:

• ​Rectal bleeding, either bright or dark red in color

• ​Tenesmus, which is the feeling that you have to empty your bowel but nothing passes

• ​Anemia caused by iron deficiency

• ​Persistent abdominal pain

• ​Unexplained weight loss

Although these symptoms may be caused by other, less serious conditions, such as hemorrhoids, ulcers and Crohn's disease, they should be discussed with a GP. Blood in the stool, even if it only appears intermittently, should never be ignored.

What tests are available?

NHS Bowel Cancer screening tests starts at 55+ with a colonoscopy and FIT test(Test for blood in the stools),

Several tests may be used to diagnose Bowel cancer, these include:-

• Colonoscopy: Direct viewing with video camera through the rectum. Needs bowel prep and day case and/or biopsies taken

• ​CT colonoscopy: Non invasive colonoscopy but involves radiation and bowel prep  

• ​FIT stool test:  To detect blood present in Bowel Cancer but may be present in benign conditions(Piles). Does not detect mutated DNA. A fraction the cost of Colonoscopy.

• ​sDNA stool test To detect mutated KRAS/BRAF genes in stools found in Bowel Cancer. Its useful when Bowel cancer is found early and/or not bleeding yet. A fraction the cost of Colonoscopy.

When should I do the test?

The American Cancer Society recommend that you start regular screening at the age of 45, or younger if you have a family history of bowel cancer. Most American insurance companies cover stool DNA testing – as a Bowel cancer screening test for asymptomatic, average risk beneficiaries, aged 50 to 85 years.

Currently the NHS Bowel screening with colonoscopy(subject to availability) at 55-59yrs and FIT testing at 60yrs+ and there are no stool DNA testing currently available in the UK.

The purpose of this test is to identify both the presence of blood and DNA changes in the stool that are shed into the stools from precancerous/cancerous cells.

The FIT test detects the presence of blood in the stool, which may be invisible to the naked eye. 

Bowel cancer DNA changes shed into the stools may even occur before even bleeding starts. ColoAlert® detects Bowel cell DNA changes that are shed into the stool. This innovative new technology is called Stool DNA (sDNA)

ColoAlert® is the only Stool DNA test kit available in the UK and Europe.

Whats is the Clinical Evidence behind ColoAlert?

“By detecting tumour DNA, ColoAlert® effectively minimises the analytical gap between colonoscopy and other stool tests.“ 
Prof. Dr. Dr. M. Dollinger; Head of ColoAlert study; Chief Physician Landshut Hospital
An independent multi-centre study investigated the sensitivity and specificity of three stool tests. A total of 566 patients used a blood-in-stool test as well as the M2-PK test and ColoAlert®. These three non-invasive tests were also compared to the existing gold standard, the colonoscopy. The blood-in-stool test scored with a very good specificity of 97 %, but its sensitivity was by far the lowest. In the case of the M2-PK test, the opposite  was true. Although the combination of both tests increased the sensitivity to 92 %, it remained very unspecific at 59 %. ColoAlert®1.0 achieved the most accurate predictive value of the non-invasive 
methods in this study: In addition to a high sensitivity of 85 %, the minimum specificity of 90 % for the detection of colorectal cancer recommended by oncology guidelines easily could be exceeded. Several other clinical studies have also shown the great benefits of genetic diagnostics in colorectal  cancer screening. These serve as further proof of the high clinical significance of tests such as ColoAlert®, which are based on a combination of the evidence of tumour DNA and blood-in-stool.
ColoAlert® version 2.0 has even far superior sensitivities and specificities

What does ColoAlert® test for?

• Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) detects hidden blood in the stool which may indicate bowel cancer and can also be from more benign causes like Piles                                                                          

• KRAS detects mutated KRAS gene in the stool that is found in Bowel cancer and is related to poor survival and increased tumour aggressiveness                                                                                         

• BRAF detects mutated BRAF gene in the stool that is found in Bowel cancer and is related to poor survival ​                                                  

• ​Quantification of human (h)DNA determines the relative amounts of human DNA in the stool. Increased concentrations of human DNA in stool samples are found in Bowel cancer samples. 

How accurate is ColoAlert® ?

ColoAlert is Highly Accurate

​

• Sensitivity >90%

• ​Specificity >95%

Key Terms – Sensitivity and Specificity

are used to evaluate the analytical

performance of a clinical test. Sensitivity is

defined as the ability to correctly identify those

patients with a disease (true-positive). For

example, a test with 90 % sensitivity

accurately detects this share of patients

with cancer (true-positives). Thus, 10 %

of affected patients will stay undetected

(false-negatives). The higher the sensitivity the

more powerful is the test to correctly identify

patients with cancer. Specificity is defined as

the ability to correctly identify healthy pati- 

ents. For example, a test with 95 % specifi-

city correctly identifies this share of pati-

ents without cancer (true-negatives), with an

error rate of 5 %. The higher the specificity the 

more powerful is the test to correctly identify

patients without cancer.

What`s the difference between ColoAlert® and FIT test?

Stool FIT detects bowel blood in the stool that can be due to Bowel cancer, but can also be a sign of Piles, Stomach ulcers, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and so on.

​ColoAlert® Basic combines the conventional FIT test with an innovative Stool DNA test that looks for Bowel Cell mutations. This Stool DNA test relies on KRAS and BRAF mutations and not only the presence of blood.  ColoAlert® Plus additionally quantifies abnormal bowel cancer cells found in the stools h(DNA)

​Bowel cancer may present without bleeding and thus ColoAlert® will be invaluable.

Is ColoAlert available at my NHS GP?

ColoAlert is only available on this site and partner practices. 
There are no other laboratories in the UK that can process ColoAlert as it requires specialised equipment and staff and so all samples will be sent to a German laboratory for processing

Get ColoAlert®

• Private GP clinic

• ​Private Hospital

• ​Pharmacies

• ​​Online:

Receive ColoAlert®

• No dietary restriction or preparation needed

Send ColoAlert®

• ​Courier collection 

• ​Prepaid 

• ​Secure packaging provided

Get ColoAlert® Results

• ​Accredited Labs*

• ​ColoAlert® Basic 9 days*

• ​​ColoAlert® Plus 5 days*

• ​Password protected results

By detecting tumour DNA, ColoAlert effectively minimizes the analytical gap between the colonoscopy and other stool tests.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias Dollinger

Coordinator of the colorectal cancer center and chief physician, Hospital Landshut

Teaching and research in the Department of Gastroenterology, University of Ulm

ColoAlert® chooses Pallmall as a partner.

World-class consultants and expert teams on hand every step of the way
A family-run private healthcare provider focussed on delivering healthcare services that meet patients’ needs and help them to thrive and live longer, healthier, happier lives. We’ve been providing safe, effective medical services and treatments to our patients for over a decade and have a team of expert doctors, specialist consultants, and highly skilled surgeons and practitioners who work across our three locations

Manufactured & processed by ISO 13485:2016 certified company

ISO 13485:2016 is the standard for a Quality Management System (“QMS”) for the design and manufacture of Medical Devices. ColoAlert® IVD (In Vitro Diagnostics) devices are regulated by EU Directive 98/79/EC.  ColoAlert® stool test is developed and manufactured by PharmGenomics GmbH, Germany

European Wide Scientific technology assessment and review

EUnetHTA consists of a total of 68 organisations (38 Associated Partners and 30 Collaborating Partners)  from 27 EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland

Transported by Specialised UN3373 certified compliant courriers

Your ColoAlert® sample is transported via  DHL to the highest standards under the strictest conditions set by UN3373 regulations

World class awards

The German Innovation Award is an innovative prize which awards enterprises with an impact. It honours the added value created by small details or new solutions. The prize was presented for the first time in 2018.

Gauranteed and reliable Secure payment methods

Stripe payments is one of the most popular online payment systems in the UK alongside Paypal.