Colorectal cancer screening 

Your colon doesn't like surprises, do you? Take advantage of the free screening programme offered by the Puglia Regional Health System and set up by your local health authority, ASL. To avoid any surprises, you can take a test in the comfort of your own home. The test can detect even the smallest traces of occult blood in the stools not normally visible to the naked eye. With the invitation from your local health authority ASL, you can go to your local pharmacy and easily pick up a free stool test kit. You can eat normally before the test. Collecting the sample is very simple. Line the toilet bowl with toilet paper to avoid contaminating the sample with water or urine and sit facing backwards. Then remove the cap on the test tube and insert the faecal swab found inside the tube in four different places of the stools, marking a cross on the surface to make sure that you adequately cover the grooves on the swab. Put the swab back into the tube, screw on the cap and shake delicately several times. Do not reopen the tube, keep it away from light and return it to the pharmacy within 48 hours of collecting the sample. If the screening does not show any abnormalities, you will be notified of the negative results by letter. After two years and until you reach the age limit of the programme, you will receive a new invitation from your local health authority to repeat the test. If the result is positive, the ASL will contact you to carry out follow up tests free of charge. This does not necessarily mean that you've got cancer, but it is important to continue the screening procedure.