Bowel Cancer Screening Success

08/10/2007

Since January this year, 64% of all Gloucestershire’s sixty-something’s who have been offered the opportunity to take part in a bowel cancer screening programme have taken part.

80% of bowel cancers occur in the over 60’s and the programme aims to detect bowel cancer early in people who have no symptoms.

The scheme has proved so successful in Gloucestershire over the first six months that the Hospitals Trust is now urging those in this age group who have not taken up their offer to participate.

The National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme provides kits that are completed in the privacy of your own home, and involve collecting tiny samples from three separate bowel motions.

Using a specially designed pre-paid envelope, the kit is then returned to the laboratory for analysis. People with abnormal results are invited to see a Nurse Specialist in clinic to discuss further tests.

Consultant Gastroenterologist, Dr Trevor Brooklyn, is heading the initiative at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He said:

“This programme is good news for people in Gloucestershire because we are proactively identifying bowel cancer at an early stage and this gives people a much better chance of survival.

“Most people with an abnormal stool test actually only have little growths in the bowel called polyps. These polyps have the potential to turn into cancer if left alone, but we can remove them and prevent cancer from developing.”

If you are aged 60 – 69 and registered with a Gloucestershire GP, you will receive a kit in the post at some point over the next two years. If you are 70 or older and want to take part, you can request a screening kit by calling a free phone number - 0800 707 60 60.

Patricia Murphy completed her kit at home expecting a normal result having had no symptoms or problems with her bowel. However after receiving an abnormal result she underwent a further test called colonoscopy where a polyp was removed which was found to be cancerous. Because this was caught at such an early stage the cancer was contained in the polyp and no further treatment was needed.

Mrs Murphy said:

“I am so glad I took part in the programme, I had no idea there was a serious problem in my bowel.

“I am grateful it was discovered at such an early stage before it became life-threatening.

“I would encourage all those invited to do their testing kits, after all it could save their life”.