To detect the colorectal cancer, people have to undergo a colonoscopy – a painful procedure that examines the colon, requiring patients to modify their diets and cleanse their bowels beforehand.

But now, a new study has revealed that a simple, at-home test is also very effective at detecting most colorectal cancers.  These tests – known as fecal immunochemical tests or “FITs” – require patients to collect a single stool sample in the privacy of their own homes, which they then send to a laboratory for analysis.

FIT products work by employing specific antibodies that bind to human blood hidden in a patient’s stool – a big indicator of cancer. 

“A lot of health care systems in the U.S. have adopted FIT, particularly at Kaiser Permanente,” study author Dr. Jeffrey Lee, a post-doctoral researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., told FoxNews.com.  “Adults over the age of 50, they would actually get a FIT test mailed to their home.”

For their study, Lee and his team reviewed 19 studies examining eight different types of FITs.  Each study included between 80 and 27,860 patients, all with an average age ranging between 45 and 63 years old.

Overall, the researchers found that the tests correctly identified the presence of colorectal cancer 79 percent of the time.

“I don’t see any downsides for adopting this screening tool, mainly because we see that if you recommend a colonoscopy, not everyone will say, ‘Yes,’” Lee said. “People have a fear of undergoing an invasive procedure, and they fear there is a slight risk, even though it’s a very accurate screening test. There’s a small perforation rate; some are scared of that, and some don’t have the time because it’s a two-day procedure.”