Brainwave could end ‘invasive’ cancer test
A BRITISH surgeon has developed a revolutionary device that could prevent thousands of bowel cancer deaths by eliminating the need for an intimate test.
About 16,000 people die of the disease in the UK each year, partly because many are reluctant to have an invasive examination by a doctor using a finger to check for a tumour.
But surgeon Fareed Iqbal has now designed a simple alternative – a tiny camera mounted on a probe that GPs can use to look for dangerous growths. The LumenEye can check the lowest 8in of the bowel without a patient having to be sent for a full colonoscopy.
Mr Iqbal said: ‘The need for a digital [using a finger] examination is part and parcel of why we see late diagnoses for bowel cancer. It’s quite an intimate procedure so people put off going to the doctor when they develop symptoms.
‘I always used to find the examination a little dated – prehistoric and invasive. As the doctor you are effectively fishing in the dark, trying to feel for something. A brainwave came to me that it’s better to look for something than feel for it. This device completely obviates the need for a digital examination.’
Early results from an NHS trial show t he LumenEye picks up 95 per cent of cancers in the lowest portion of the bowel – as accurate as a colonoscopy. The number of patients in England waiting more than six weeks for a colonoscopy has risen from 5,000 last autumn to around 40,000.