FAECAL OCCULT BLOOD TEST
Faecal occult blood test is a test used to detect haemoglobin in faeces or stool which is not detectable macroscopically. Occult means unseen or invisible so we are looking for possible blood in stool that we cannot see. A positive occult blood test usually indicates massive loss of blood in the gastrointestinal tract and this is usually seen in;
- Upper gastrointestinal bleeding
- Colorectal cancer
- Anaemia of unknown cause
- Fever of unknown origin
METHODS
There are two main methods used in the Faecal Occult Blood Tests
CHEMICAL METHOD
Principle
The test is based on the principle that haemoglobin is going to act as a pseudoperoxidase if present in the stool and break down the hydrogen peroxide into water (H2O2) and oxygen radical (O2-). The oxygen radical (O2-) reacts with the guaiac (chromogen) to give a blue colouration which confirms a positive test.
Procedure
A small amount of stool is picked from different portions of the stool and smeared evenly on the pad on both the positive and negative control portions. The pad is impregnated Guaiac which is going to act as a chromogen. A developer solution is then added to the pad. The developer contains hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) which acts as a substrate for the enzyme.
PATIENT PREPARATION PRIOR TO TEST
Patients should collect stool samples under the following conditions
During or until three days after menstrual period
While patient has bleeding hemorrhoids(piles)
When patient has conditions that cause bleeding (e.g. bleeding gums or passing bloody urine
Dietary restrictions
Patients should avoid eating or taking any of the following foods at least three days prior to the test.
Red meat, poultry products, fish or any food containing food because of the myoglobin may cause false positive results.
Raw fruits e.g. apples, banana, oranges etc.
Vegetables e.g. beets, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers, etc. because they also contain pseudoperoxidase and may cause false positive results.
Drug restrictions
The following drugs should be avoided at least three days prior to the test
Avoid or withdraw alcohol, aspirin, and other gastric irritants including NSAIDS because they may cause intestinal bleeding and cause false positive result.
Other restricted medicines include colchicines, reserpine, barium sulphate, cough medicines, corticosteroids, anticoagulants etc.
Vitamins, including iron supplements (blood tonics) and vitamin C or vitamin C enriched foods because Vitamin C has antioxidant properties and mops up the oxygen free radicals. As a result, there will be oxygen radical to react with the chromogen to produce a colour change producing false negative results.
Post can be found on whaleshares
Hello! I find your post valuable for the wafrica community! Thanks for the great post! We encourage and support quality contents and projects from the West African region.
Do you have a suggestion, concern or want to appear as a guest author on WAfrica, join our discord server and discuss with a member of our curation team.
Don't forget to join us every Sunday by 20:30GMT for our Sunday WAFRO party on our discord channel. Thank you.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by lexymaine from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hi, @lexymaine!
You just got a 0.15% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations lexymaine, you upvoted 500 posts via the @share2steem Curation Trails !
You reached LVL 2 and earned 0.03 SBD !
Move to LVL 3 by upvoting 1000 posts !
!tipuvote 0.03
Check the achievements list on https://share2steem.io !
Participate in our Christmas Challenge : 5 SBI shares to win !
This message is generated automatically.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations,
you just received a 10.98% upvote from @steemhq - Community Bot!
Wanna join and receive free upvotes yourself?
![](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://www.steemhq.com/steemhq_voting.gif)
Vote for
steemhq.witness
on Steemit or directly on SteemConnect and join the Community Witness.This service was brought to you by SteemHQ.com
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This post is supported by $0.03 @tipU upvote funded by @share2steem :)
@tipU voting service guide | For investors.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit