Early detection is key to surviving bowel cancer

NEARLY 98% of people will survive bowel cancer if it’s detected at stage 1, a figure that drops to 10% if diagnosed at stage 4.

Awareness campaigns, plus the NHS screening programmes for people aged 55 and 60-plus, mean generally, the prognosis has improved for older age groups, those most likely to get the disease (around 94% of the 41,200 people diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK are over-50s).

But the number of younger people with bowel cancer has increased by 45% since 2004. There are currently more than 2,500 new cases a year in the UK in under-50s — and they are much more likely to be diagnosed late.

According to Bowel Cancer UK, three out of five will be diagnosed with cancer that’s already stage 3 or 4. A third (34%) only find out they have cancer in an emergency situation, after having to visit A&E, for instance, because symptoms have reached a crisis point — despite the fact they may have been seen a doctor numerous times.

“Bowel cancer in younger patients is becoming more common; we don’t really know why,” says Willie Hamilton, professor of primary care diagnostics at the University of Exeter Medical School.

“We need to identify bowel cancer as early as we can, but we do have to remember most patients with bowel symptoms do not have cancer. GPs have always had to do a delicate balancing act between testing too few patients and testing too many.

“Most patients can be managed entirely within their GP’s surgery, but some will benefit from tests of their faeces, and a few will need an urgent colonoscopy.”