• Anal Itching
• Anal Pain
• Bowel Cancer
• Constipation
• Diverticular Disease
• Faecal Incontinence
• Haemorrhoids
• Rectal Prolapse

Bowel Cancer

Description

Bowel cancer is a genetic disease. It is the 3rd most prevalent form of cancer and the 2nd biggest cancer killer in the developed world. Around 35,000 people annually are diagnosed with bowel cancer. It often begins with small polyps which are found on the bowel wall. Over time these can develop into cancer. Bowel cancer is most dangerous when it has spread (metastasised). At the beginning it goes through the wall of the bowel, then into lymph nodes and finally to distant organs - most often the liver. About 80% of bowel cancers occur in the large intestine and 20% in the rectum. Anal cancer is rare.

Symptoms

One of the difficulties with bowel cancer is that often there are no symptoms until quite late. However, if you have bleeding from the bottom or a change in bowel habits for several weeks it is always wise to visit your GP. Other symptoms can be severe abdominal pain or a lump in the abdomen and acute tiredness or weight loss. All of these symptoms can be signs of other less severe conditions, for example, bleeding from the bottom might indicate haemorrhoids, but it's vital to get checked out as if it's found early there is a good chance of a cure.

Diagnosis

The NHS has launched a national screening programme for men and women between 60 and 69 every two years. Full information on the programme can be found at www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk. A colonoscopy is also used to diagnose the presence of polyps where, under mild sedation, a flexible tube with a tiny wire on it is inserted into the back passage and images fed back to a monitor. If polyps are found they are painlessly snared and removed. If a suspected tumour is found, a small amount of it will be removed (a biopsy). Both will be analysed by a pathologist.

Treatment

Surgery is the only cure for bowel cancer. Unfortunately almost half of those diagnosed with large bowel cancer are detected too late and the disease has spread too far for surgical cure.

To be successful an operation must remove all cancer tissue in the body. However it is extremely difficult to know if this has been achieved as microscopic amounts can lead to recurrence if left behind. Many people are offered chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as an operation, to destroy any cancer not removed by the operation. Unfortunately despite this there is no guarantee of cure.

Outcomes and further sources of support

Roughly half of those diagnosed with bowel cancer will survive 5 years following diagnosis, usually because the surgery has successfully removed all of the cancer. This highlights the importance of checking out symptoms at an early stage. There are a number of organisations which provide support for people living with cancer, for example, Marie Curie www.mariecurie.org.uk, Macmillan www.macmillan.org.uk, Maggies www.maggiescentres.org, Cancerbackup www.cancerbackup.org.uk, LabTestsOnline pages on bowel cancer www.labtestsonline.org.uk/understanding/conditions/bowel.html and faecal occult blood tests www.labtestsonline.org.uk/understanding/analytes/fobt/related.html .