Cotton swab anal smear instead of stool occult blood test can not only be used as a mass screening method for colorectal cancer, but is an auxiliary way to screen hepatobiliary pancreatic carcinoma. Two hundred and twenty-three cases of hepatobiliary pancreatic carcinoma patients received anal occult blood test, of which 121 were positive (54.3%). The screening test was performed in 14,645 healthy people aged 40-60 years; 511 persons (3.4%) were positive for anal blood. Among these, six cases of digestive tract cancer were found (one oesophageal carcinoma, one gastric cardia carcinoma, two gastric carcinomas, two liver carcinomas). This suggests that when anal occult blood is positive, the patient should be scanned by ultrasonic means to rule out hepatobiliary pancreatic tumour.