Screening for bowel cancer cuts deaths

Having set up a company to detect disease early I’m delighted to report that yet another study concludes screening significantly cuts death rate and reduces admission to casualty/emergency room.

The latest UK study looked at bowel cancer screening and piloted the feasibility of using a home screening kit to collect and post fecal occult blood (FOB) test samples from subjects aged 50 to 69.  The overall colorectal cancer detection rate was 0.94 per 1,000, which shows that cancer is being detected far earlier than currently.

The FOB test is simple to use but restrictive.  It only checks for a symptom of bowel abnormality, namely blood in the feces.  Genetic tests will soon be available and able to provide much more detailed analysis including looking at circulating tumor cells and early stage colorectal cancer markers.  I’ll let you know when they come out.

 Elaine Warburton