| Screening |
The best way to prevent bowel cancer will be to offer screening like mammagrams for breast cancer and smears for cervical cancer
The UK launched a National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in April 2006 for people aged 60- 69 in England, 50-74 in Scotland and Wales, taking three years to phase in. Northern Ireland plans to start in 2009 The screening programme is based on a faecal occult blood test (FOB) looking for hidden signs of bleeding in the stool (poo) usually followed by a colonoscopy for people who might be at risk. It's estimated screening for bowel cancer could save at least 1,200 lives a year as it would find polyps and cancers at an earlier, treatable stage
About 5 in 10 people who have a colonsocopy will have a normal result
About 4 in 10 people will have a polyp which, if removed may prevent cancer from developing
About 1 in 10 people will be found to have cancer when they have a colonoscopy
In the United States nearly half the population over 50 have had colonoscopies and many thousands every year have cancers detected at a very early stage. Which is the main reason why their survival rates are so much higher than ours
Two percent of all tests are positive and require a subsequent diagnostic colonoscopy.
For more information on the UK National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme see www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/colorectal |
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| TV presenter Matthew Wright has a strong family history of the disease. People like Matthew should also be regularly screened with colonoscopies. |
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