| Diagnosis |
First a bit of reassurance: most people referred for investigation don't turn out to have cancer.
How you are investigated depends on what's available in your hospital but you will probably need some kind of internal examination because the bowel is inside the body.
The most likely investigations are:
- rigid sigmoidoscopy, a small telescope that can look inside the first 20cm of your rectum - takes a few minutes.
- flexible sigmoidoscopy (which can see up to 60-70cm inside) - a thin flexible tube, with a camera or light on the end. You do not need to take laxatives the day before to clean out your gut, though you may be given an enema or suppository earlier on the day. "Flexi-sig" is safe, takes only a few minutes and gets further round the bowel than a rigid - good for investigating most symptoms.
If these tests do not discover the cause of your symptoms or are inconclusive, you may be referred for:
- colonoscopy - a longer telescope examination - you take laxatives beforehand and stop eating sometime the day before, to clear our your insides. Advice varies between hospitals but you can usually drink liquids like tea/coffee and a form of sedative is given for the procedure.
- X-Ray of the entire colon (barium enema) - the colon is filled with a thick white liquid (barium sulphate) and X-rays taken from several angles. Laxatives have to be taken the day before to clean out the bowel.
- your stomach should be felt by hand for lumps and many people are also offered a blood test for anaemia.
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| What investigation might your GP recommend |
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