Bowel Cancer Screening

Why is screening important?

Bowel cancer is more common in people over 50 years of age, especially in men. One in 20 of us over 50 years of age will get bowel cancer at some point in our lives.Screening aims to find bowel cancer at an early stage in people with no symptoms. The screening test looks for hidden blood in the bowel motion, as this may suggest a higher chance of bowel cancer.Other changes in the bowel can also be found, such as polyps (non-cancerous growths). If found, most polyps can be easily removed and often prevent future cancers developing.If bowel cancer is detected early enough through screening, there is a 90% chanceof treating the disease successfully.For approximatelyevery 650 people invited for regular screening, one bowel cancer death will be prevented. In Scotland this will mean the screening programme will prevent at least 150 deaths from bowel cancer each year.

We would encourage patient's to participate in the programme when asked-for further information see:

http://www.bowelscreening.scot.nhs.uk/why-is-screening-important#mainContent



 
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