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Use of robots in bowel surgery:

Bowel cancer - Don't bury your head in the sand and ignore it!

 
Bowel cancer kills more New Zealanders than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. (2007 Ministry of Health Cancer Registry) 

This is just one of the many shameful facts regarding bowel cancer in New Zealand, and this along with decades of inactivity by successive governments has prompted action by Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa.

This week, BowelScreen Aotearoa™ has been launched. This is a collaborative initiative between Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa, Bowel Cancer Australia and Pharmacy Brands, and sees for the first time in New Zealand an opportunity for bowel cancer screening kits to be purchased over the counter at your local pharmacy. 

Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa calls for implementation of a National Screening Programme as a national priority. This call is part of the “2015 Call to Action”, launched this week and distributed to all MPs. The 2015 Call to Action (available from the Charity’s website www.beatbowelcancer.org.nz ) outlines 10 key calls for improving New Zealand’s bowel cancer outcomes and services.

Bowel cancer screening has the potential to detect bowel cancer at an early stage and prevent as many as 1 in 3 deaths from the disease. Screening has been adopted by a number of countries, including the UK and many EU countries, with positive results.
“The Ministry of Health’s “we know best attitude”, and the failure of successive governments to take action, has left New Zealand 10 years behind these other countries” says Sarah Derrett, Chair of Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa.  “As a group of people directly affected by bowel cancer we don’t feel we have been well-served by this attitude. Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa seeks a roll-out of a national screening programme as a matter of urgency. While we wait, thousands more New Zealanders will die from the disease”. 

We cannot sit by whilst more than 1250 New Zealanders die each year from bowel cancer, waiting for the possibility of a national screening programme that may be a decade away. We need screening now, and BowelScreen Aotearoa helps provide this. The test kits will help raise the profile and awareness of bowel cancer, which is New Zealand’s silent killer (less than half of all new Zealanders know the symptoms of bowel cancer).

New Zealanders can now be proactive and help to monitor their own health with the potential to detect bowel cancer at an early stage. A faecal occult blood test is available from your GP or by purchasing a BowelScreen Aotearoa kit at one of the participating pharmacies (Unichem, Amcal, Life Pharmacy, Care Chemist and Radius).

This simple, painless and private test could save you or a family member from advanced bowel cancer. Bowel cancer is most survivable if caught early. Faecal occult blood testing helps detect bowel cancer at this early, treatable stage, and is an internationally recognised and validated test to screen for early bowel cancer in people without worrisome symptoms.

Information about participating pharmacies is available at www.bowelscreenaotearoa.org
The charity stresses the importance of people with bowel cancer symptoms promptly seek medical advice. Symptoms to be aware of include persistent rectal bleeding, recent persistent change of bowel habit, a lump or mass felt in your abdomen, and persistent or recurring abdominal pain. People with a family history of bowel cancer are at increased risk and should also discuss this with their GP to see whether they should be referred for further assessment.

Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa has developed a Bowel Cancer Screening Pathway for New Zealanders which clearly indicates who should, and who should not, be undertaking screening. This can be found on their website: www.beatbowelcancer.org.nz

Sarah Derrett said, “What most New Zealanders don't realise is that approximately 3000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year, with more than 1250 New Zealanders dying from the disease. This equates to more than 100 people dying every month – 3 times the national road toll.”

Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa

Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa (New Zealand) is a national patient-led charity aiming to decrease the impact of bowel cancer on the New Zealand community through awareness, education, support and promotion of access to appropriate screening and treatments.

Through our work we aim to help save lives from one of New Zealand’s most common cancers, the second biggest cancer killer in New Zealand.

CONTACT:

Media officer Rachel Holdaway: +64 274655489
Chairperson Sarah Derrett: +64 211 134 832
info@beatbowelcancer.org.nz  
Call to Action webpage

Ryall happy issues being addressed

By Elspeth McLean and Eileen Goodwin on Fri, 27 May 2011

Health Minister Tony Ryall has welcomed the National Health Board's assessment of Dunedin Hospital systems announced this week.

There were long-standing issues with the hospital's performance and it was good the Southern District Health Board and the national board were working together to address them.

"This is exactly the kind of role that was foreseen for the National Health Board when it was established," he said in an emailed statement.

One of the ongoing concerns that led to the assessment proposal was access to colonoscopies, something Mr Ryall expressed concern about in October 2009 when general practitioners' worries about this became public.

He called for an urgent report into the situation after claims some patients with possible bowel cancer symptoms were being denied diagnostic colonoscopies.
The number of colonoscopies planned increased as a result, but the board has had difficulty delivering the set number.

At the end of April, Dunedin Hospital was 124 procedures behind the planned 660.
The hospitals' advisory committee has been told a recovery plan is in place.
Labour health spokesman Grant Robertson said he was aware of service issues at the hospital through feedback from constituents and Labour MPs.

Previous systems improvements at the hospital appeared not to have worked in some cases, he said. He suspected Dunedin was the tip of a larger problem with New Zealand hospitals that had been affected by Mr Ryall's "myopic approach" emphasising health targets.

That approach to areas like elective surgery and ED wait times put pressure on resources and might not achieve what it set out to, he said.

National Health Board service improvement manager Jill Lane, who is leading the assessment team, said she had spent yesterday talking to staff. They had been very welcoming, open and positive, she said.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell said what little feedback he had received was supportive of the exercise.

Southern board chairman Joe Butterfield said he was comfortable with the process and hoped it would achieve some agreement on what the issues were, particularly with regard to the need for capital development at the hospital.

Chief operating officer (Otago) Vivian Blake expected the assessment would show how "seriously lacking" some facilities were and the impact that could have on efficiency. She was sure the team would be quite impressed with some of the things it would find.

"Staff do the best they can with what they've got," she said.

• Concerns that led to the assessment include long stays in ED, long radiology waiting lists, booking practices inconsistent with national practice and the level of investment in neurosurgery.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/162291/ryall-happy-issues-being-addressed
 

Bowel cancer test kits at pharmacies


8  April 2011  Source: ONE News

New Zealanders will now be able to test themselves for a cancer that kills more people than breast and prostate cancer combined. 

Pharmacybrands has today launched a do-it-yourself bowel cancer test kit, which will cost between $50 to $60. The kits will be available in 300 pharmacies nationwide from next week. Bowel cancer kills more than 1200 people each year. 

Patients will collect a small stool sample at home and post it off to a lab in Australia, which will then contact the patient's New Zealand GP with the results. 

If it is positive more investigative tests such as a colonoscopy may be required. 

Supporters of bowel cancer screening say the test will allow people with a family history of the disease to monitor their own health for the first time. 

However the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) say they do not support the pharmacy-based programme. NZMA chairman Peter Foley says he is concerned the programme has been set up without consultation with the medical profession and that it appears to be a "piecemeal approach" to healthcare.

"GPs are better placed to provide this service as they are aware of a patient's history, which is a very important part of screening. General practice, the enrolled medical home of 97% of New Zealanders, is where screening must occur so that it is linked to the individual's healthcare and doctors can be properly involved," Dr Foley says.

He says that while pharmacists need to play greater roles in the health sector, allowing them to deliver programmes such as bowel screening will splinter integrated healthcare.
Dr Susan Parry, from the National Bowel Cancer Working Group, agreed. She added that doctors would be able to provide more answers to patients.

"The general practitioner can talk to them about the pitfalls of it, talk to them about what a positive test result means, and that there might not be speedy access to a colonoscopy - that they might have to pay for a colonoscopy if the test is positive."

However, Pharmacybrands' Alison Van Wyk said the kits were "very much an integrated platform" and they welcomed the inclusion of a doctor.

There is no prospect of national screening in New Zealand until at least 2016, with the government's bowel cancer screening pilot programme in Waitemata still six months away.

http://tvnz.co.nz/health-news/bowel-cancer-test-kits-pharmacies-4108743


Opinion split over screening kits


By Elspeth McLean
9 April 2011

News about the availability of over-the-counter bowel cancer screening kits attracted both support and criticism yesterday.

Those voicing support included award-winning scientist Prof Sir Paul Callaghan, who has bowel cancer, and Dunedin oncologist Associate Prof David Perez.
However, the New Zealand Medical Association said it had serious misgivings.
Chairman Dr Peter Foley said he was concerned it was a "piecemeal approach" to health care.

Advised the kits would be issued only after a discussion with trained pharmacists on the appropriateness of that, and that the customer had to include their GP's details so he or she could be advised of the result, Dr Foley said the appropriate place for such a discussion was in general practice.

There, the training and experience of doctors and nurses was much more aligned to understanding and dealing with this "individual and community health problem".
Prof Callaghan felt the kits were a "fantastic idea" and that Beat Bowel Cancer, on its website, had provided clear information to help people decide if it was for them.
He praised the awareness-raising work being done by the organisation, saying if he had been educated properly 10 years ago, he would not be in the dangerous situation of having cancer that had spread and was now considered terminal.

His condition was discovered in 2008, when he was 61 and had to undergo an emergency operation for a bowel blockage. Even though he was "reasonably well educated", he did not know the "simple facts" about bowel cancer.

While the testing-kits move might be controversial to some, he felt progressive doctors would welcome their patients becoming more proactive about their own health care.
When the disease was found early, it could be treated very effectively, he said.

Prof Perez said some doctors held the attitude that until a national population-based screening programme was implemented, which could be eight to 10 years away, they would not recommend faecal occult blood tests to their patients.

Some people who had concerns about bowel cancer could find it difficult to approach their doctor in that instance.

Prof Perez said the Mole Map service was an area where patient-initiated screening occurred and results went back to GPs for action, and that service did not generate adverse comment or problems.

A national bowel-cancer screening programme was the ideal, but the kits provided an interim measure that some people could use.

They could generate more demand for colonoscopies. In Otago there was a particular problem about the availability of colonoscopies, but that was something people would need to discuss with their GP if the test was positive.

People in the "internet generation" were much more aware of what was available and people were more proactive about their own health care, something that was a "good direction".

Ministry of Health national cancer programme clinical director Dr John Childs said it was important people understood the initiative was not an organised national screening programme, or the forthcoming pilot scheme, and it was not free.

"As such, it is unlikely to improve outcomes for those most adversely affected by bowel cancer, which include Maori and Pacific peoples, and those from low socio-economic groups."

There was also concern that people could be falsely reassured or worried unnecessarily.
Prof Perez said all screening tests generated some anxiety.

Beat Bowel Cancer chairwoman Dr Sarah Derrett said a meeting with Ministry of Health officials yesterday had been positive and she hoped it would lead to the two organisations working together to raise awareness of the disease.

elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz 

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/155492/opinion-split-over-screening-kits?page=0%2C1
 

Patient Group hits back at NZMA Criticism of Bowel Cancer Test Kits

8 Apr 2011

“Status quo not an option” – Chairperson

Today BowelScreen Aotearoa™ has been launched. This is a collaborative initiative between Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa, Bowel Cancer Australia and Pharmacy Brands, and sees for the first time in New Zealand an opportunity for bowel cancer screening kits to be purchased over the counter at your local pharmacy.

Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa Chairperson Dr Sarah Derrett responded to criticism from the New Zealand Medical Association:

“The status quo approach to bowel cancer screening has not served us well. Over 100 New Zealanders die each month from bowel cancer – one of the worst death rates in the OECD, and three times the national road toll. Despite this New Zealand has been one of the slowest countries to respond to the need for a screening programme. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that this is not an issue”.

“Faecal Occult Blood testing has been proven to reduce deaths from bowel cancer in several international studies. BowelScreen Aotearoa makes faecal occult blood testing more available than at present. A similar pharmacy based programme has been in place in Australia for a number of years”.

“GPs play a key role in bowel cancer detection and screening. However some GPs are reluctant to offer bowel cancer screening to their patients until a national screening programme is in place and yet this may take another 8-10 years to eventuate. BowelScreen Aotearoa provides an additional option for New Zealanders concerned about bowel cancer” says Dr Derrett.

Patients who have symptoms such as change in bowel habit, rectal bleeding or unexplained abdominal pain should consult their doctor. People aged 50-74 with no personal or family history of bowel cancer and with no specific bowel symptoms could benefit from a faecal occult blood test, either through their GP or by purchasing a BowelScreen Aotearoa test kit.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1104/S00022/patient-group-hits-back-at-bowel-cancer-test-kit-criticism.htm

 

Award-Winning Scientist Supports Screening Kits

Press Releast 10 April 2100

Professor Sir Paul Callaghan has come out in support of over-the-counter bowel cancer screening kits.

Professor Callaghan felt the BowelScreen Aotearoa™ screening kits were “a fantastic idea” accompanied by clear information on the Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa website.

He praised the awareness work being undertaken by Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa  and feels that if he had known the simple facts 10 years ago he would not be in the position he is in now, with bowel cancer that has spread and become terminal.

Professor Callaghan says “progressive doctors will welcome the kits”

Bowel cancer kills more people in New Zealand than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. 

Patients who have symptoms such as a change in bowel habit, rectal bleeding or unexplained abdominal pain should consult their doctor. Those eligible aged between 50-74 who live in the Waitemata DHB area, should participate in the screening pilot commencing later this year. Those who are not eligible and are aged 50 and over with no personal or family history or specific bowel cancer symptoms could benefit from a faecal occult blood test, either through their GP, or by purchasing a BowelScreen™ Aotearoa test kit.


 

Bowel cancer testing kits now available

By Elspeth McLean
8 April 2011

Bowel cancer screening kits will be available over the counter from today, a New Zealand first.

Fed up with the length of time it is taking to introduce bowel cancer screening in New Zealand, Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa has collaborated on the initiative with its sister charity in Australia and Pharmacy Brands.

Chairwoman Dr Sarah Derrett said the kits, which will sell for $52.15 plus GST, would give people aged 50-74 the chance to be proactive about monitoring their own health.

The kits will not be available in Dunedin until early next week.

The organisation was concerned national screening could still be a decade away when New Zealand had the highest incidence of the disease in the world and its mortality rates from the disease were among the world's worst. More than 1250 New Zealanders die from bowel cancer a year. This is more than the total deaths from breast and prostate cancer.

The Ministry of Health's "we know best" attitude, and the failure of successive governments to take action, left New Zealand 10 years behind other countries which had screening programmes, Dr Derrett said. "As a group of people directly affected by bowel cancer we don't feel we have been well-served by this attitude."

While people could already seek a faecal occult blood test through their doctor, there had been no opportunity, until now, to buy a kit over the counter. Those who completed a kit would be required to provide their general practitioner's contact details and the doctor would be advised of the result.

Dr Derrett said it was difficult to know how many people would buy the kits, so it was hard to estimate the possible effect on disease detection.

A positive result would not necessarily mean someone had cancer, but would indicate further investigation was needed.

Early detection was the key to improving survival rates, because 75% of bowel cancers could be cured if caught early. She accepted there was difficulty already in meeting demand for diagnostic services in some areas and those who needed further investigation would need to discuss the options available with their doctor. Dr Derrett said a national programme could potentially save about 270 lives a year. The screening kits were not designed to compete with or replace such a programme. However, the kits gave people in the 50 to 74 age group, where the risk was increased, a simple way to seek screening in the meantime.

Dr Derrett emphasised that anyone with bowel cancer symptoms should seek medical advice promptly. These symptoms were persistent rectal bleeding, recent persistent change in bowel habits, a lump or mass which could be felt in the abdomen, and persistent or recurring abdominal pain. People with a family history of bowel cancer should also discuss this with their doctor. It was also important to remember that some cancers did not bleed, so the test could show a "false negative" result where no bleeding was found and yet the person might have cancer, she said.

The opposite was also true. A person could have a positive result and not have cancer because the bleeding might have another origin. Dr Derrett said the immunochemical faecal occult blood tests, which will be marketed under the brand BowelScreen Aotearoa brand, were easy to use and required no handling of faeces or dietary or medication restrictions. After completion, the tests are posted away for analysis in Australia.

The kits will be available in 300 pharmacies around the country (Unichem, Amcal, Life Pharmacy, Care Chemist and Radius outlets). A screening pathway indicating who should and should not seek screening is available on the Beat Bowl Cancer website

Call to Action

Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa has listed 10 areas it wants to see action in a document "2015 Call to Action" launched this week and sent to all members of Parliament. It wants:

  • A national screening programme fully in place by 2015.
  • A maximum four-week wait between a GP referral and specialist's visit.
  • Maximum two-week wait for full diagnostic examination after seeing a specialist.
  • Improved access to drug treatments for advanced bowel cancer.
  • Systematic and regular follow-up for those diagnosed.
  • Regular and transparent reporting on bowel cancer.
  • Education to raise awareness of the ideas.
  • Equitable access to bowel cancer services.
  • National bowel cancer management guidelines and standards.
  • A multi-disciplinary approach to the care of those with the disease.

http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/health/155317/bowel-cancer-testing-kits-now-available

 

Research indicates screening support

By Elspeth McLean 

25 Mar 2011

University of Otago research into attitudes towards bowel cancer screening suggests there may be strong support for a screening programme, but says a comprehensive education campaign is needed.

The four-year screening pilot, in which participants will take faecal samples with special kits at home and post them to the laboratory, is due to begin in the Waitemata area in October.

Until now, little has been known about New Zealanders' attitudes to such testing for hidden blood in faeces, but it has been assumed to be one of the biggest challenges for such a screening programme.

The research reported in a New Zealand Medical Journal paper by Dr Tony Reeder today covers interviews with 50 European New Zealanders and is part of a wider study which also looked at the attitudes of Māori, general practitioners and specialists.

The participants in the study, aged between 50 and 71, self-selected by responding to information in city general practices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Dr Reeder, director of the Cancer Society of New Zealand Social and Behavioural Research Unit, said there was no suggestion this was a representative study, but the interviews canvassed "pretty much all" the likely views.

On the positive side, a majority of participants identified that the faecal occult blood test (FOBT) was painless, simple, relatively low-cost and could be done at home and in private.

There was concern about the awkwardness of specimen collection and a perception that there would be more reticence about participation among men and the elderly.

Dr Reeder tried using FOBT kits himself to see how difficult they were to use, and he found it was not much of a "hassle".

Negative views about male participation were not universal among study participants.

Some in the study were concerned about the test's accuracy, but others considered regular testing, as proposed, would overcome that in the long run.

There was also concern expressed about the ability of the health system to cope with the extra colonoscopies that would be required under a screening programme.

Dr Reeder said he hoped those planning the pilot would take note of the study findings.

He considers a well-trialled, high-profile public education campaign before the programme was introduced would be critical for achieving acceptable screening participation, particularly among men.

In the journal, an editorial from Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa chairwoman Dr Sarah Derrett, also a University of Otago health researcher, echoes his call for a comprehensive public awareness campaign to increase knowledge of the disease.

It was worrying that Dr Reeder's research supported earlier research showing people had difficulty with colorectal cancer symptom recognition, even though colorectal cancer was the country's most common cancer affecting both men and women, she said.

It was also the second leading cause of cancer death.

Dr Derrett expressed concern at the possibility it could be at least eight years before a national screening programme was implemented, if the Minister of Health decided to proceed.

She estimated 10,000 New Zealanders were likely to die from the disease while "we wait for a decision".

http://www.odt.co.nz/campus/university-otago/153212/research-indicates-screening-support

 
International News    

Bowel cancer rates increasing among young adults

BOWEL cancer rates are increasing more among young adults than any other age group, research shows.

Traditionally seen as an older person's disease, data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows disease incidence is increasing more for people aged 20 to 34 than for any other age group.

In the interval between 1992-96 and 2002-06, there was a 64 per cent increase in the incidence of bowel cancer among young people aged between 20 and 34.

Colorectal surgeon, Associate Professor Graham Newstead, said that increase was more than five times the 12.3 per cent increase across all age groups. "Increased dietary fat and energy intake in the younger generation may also be related to their increasing rates of bowel cancer," he said.

"Changes in the way which our food is produced may also be a factor, though the science is yet to be ascertained." In men of all ages the increase was 14.1 per cent, while for those aged 20-34 the increase in the incidence of bowel cancer was 82 per cent. The mortality rate increased by 22 per cent.

In women, the increase for all ages was 10 per cent during the same period, while for young women the rise was 50 per cent. Associate Professor Newstead said the research suggested that young men were being diagnosed later when the cancer was more advanced.

"Younger people are also at higher risk of a more aggressive form of the disease and some have a genetic background which predisposes them to a higher risk," he said.

Bowel Cancer Australia figures show the disease kills 14,000 Australians each year. At 34, Hazelwood Park mother-of-two Stacey Gentile thought her symptoms - tiredness, bloating and blood in her stools - were due to the birth of her youngest child. "I was at the doctor to have some moles checked and mentioned my symptoms," she said.

After a colonoscopy revealed she had bowel cancer, Mrs Gentile has undergone chemotherapy, radiotherapy and had a quarter of her large intestine removed. Her cancer is currently not active but she continues to undergo checks.

"Listen to your body - if you have symptoms, go and get a check-up. It's not a nice cancer to talk about, no cancer is glamorous, but this is probably the worst," she said.

 

Big rise in young with bowel cancer

Two years ago, marine biologist Cherie Bish was looking forward to the birth of her first baby but had a nagging pain near her tailbone. She went to hospital four days in a row but she was repeatedly assured the pain, and her increased visits to the toilet, were part of pregnancy.

It was not until she had a stillborn baby and emergency hysterectomy that doctors realised a big tumour in her bowel had caused the pain and an infection in her uterus.

The 26-year-old hopes her experience will be a warning that bowel cancer can strike young people. Australian data shows that though the cancer mainly hits those over the age of 50, there has been a big rise in younger victims.

Bowel Cancer Australia chief executive officer Julien Wiggins said more than 14,000 Australians were diagnosed with it each year. Screening was recommended in people aged 50 and over who were most at risk, yet bowel cancer rates in people aged 20 to 34 had risen 64 per cent between 1996 and 2006.

St John of God Subiaco colorectal surgeon Michael Levitt said there was a distinct increase in younger patients, whose symptoms often went unchecked for longer. "We've had a couple of patients in their 30s with advanced tumours and it's quite demoralising," he said. Mr Levitt said bowel cancer was highly treatable, if caught early.

 

Bowel cancer rates to double in Australia over 10 years

Danny Rose 
March 22, 2011
   
AUSTRALIA'S incidence of bowel cancer is predicted to surge by 50 per cent over the next decade.
The number of mostly older Australians who develop the often deadly cancer is expected to rise from about 14,000 to 21,000 a year. Cancer Council Australia chief executive Professor Ian Olver said lifestyle as well as population trends would drive the increase, and it underscored the need for an effective means to combat the disease.

"The ageing of the population is one issue, because bowel cancer does increase with increasing age," Professor Olver said.

"Obesity is also a risk factor for bowel cancer, so those two are major problems that will impact on the incidence over the next decade."

This forecast comes as a cloud hangs over Australia's National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, as its funding expired at the end of last year without an indication from government as to its future.

Test kits are still being sent, but only to clear a back-log created when a batch of faulty tests were recalled.

Those Australians who have turned the target age of 50, 55 or 65 so far this year will miss out on a test, and this will continue if more money is not set aside in May's federal budget.
Professor Olver has joined with other health experts in a call for the program to be re-funded, and also broadened, to send the tests to Australians aged over 50 every two years.
This would save lives and taxpayer dollars, Prof Olver said, as bowel cancer was easily prevented if caught early but was expensive to treat and incurable if allowed to progress.

"The thing about bowel cancer screening is, because a polyp precedes cancer, you can pick up a polyp before it becomes cancerous and deal with it so a person never gets cancer," Professor Olver said. "We calculate that with a fully implemented bowel screening program, you're saving between 20 and 30 lives per week."It is also cost effective ... by not having to treat as much metastatic disease, which is expensive to treat, and by reducing the number of colonoscopies that are being used as a primary screen."

Professor Olver said the expanded program could cost about $150 million a year, but taking healthcare savings into account would cut this figure by about two thirds. Bowel cancer was also unique, he said, along with breast and cervix cancer in that "there is a test suitable for population screening".

"It's the first one, incidentally, to include men and we do need to take that opportunity because it will reduce the amount of bowel cancer," Professor Olver said.
Peter Caissa, a 54-year-old Melbourne man who was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year, is a human face on this problem. "Had my cancer been picked up at an earlier stage before symptoms developed, it probably would have been easy to treat with a straightforward surgical procedure," Mr Caissa said in a statement.
"Instead, I face a costly, arduous treatment program and an uncertain future.
"The government needs to properly implement the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, to ensure that hundreds more Australians each year can avoid the distress of a late-stage diagnosis."

Mr Caissa is among the 18 per cent of Australians with bowel cancer whose diagnosis occurs in the latter, and most difficult to treat, phase of the disease.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/bowel-cancer-rates-to-double/story-fn6bfmgc-1226025742531
 

 

 
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