What is bowel cancer?
Bowel cancer refers specifically to cancer of the large intestine (that is, the colon or rectum). It is often referred to as colorectal cancer. There were 14,200 new cases of bowel cancer diagnosed in Australia in 2008 and 4,000 deaths in 2007.
Bowel cancer occurs when abnormal cells grow and multiply out of control. Early stages of these mutations result in benign polyps that are relatively common in old age. However, a polyp may eventually become a benign adenoma, and ultimately, a malignant bowel cancer that can invade into deeper layers of bowel tissue and then spread.
These mutations occur relatively slowly making early detection and removal of small cancers—and adenomas and polyps that may become cancerous—effective in preventing ill health or death from bowel cancer.
Why screen for bowel cancer?
Bowel cancer can develop without any early warning signs. The cancer can grow on the inside wall of the bowel for several years before spreading to other parts of the body. The aim of bowel screening is to find polyps or cancer early when they are easier to treat and cure.
Often very small amounts of blood leak from these growths and pass into the bowel motion before any symptoms are noticed. A faecal occult blood test (commonly known as a FOBT) is a non-invasive test which detects microscopic amounts of blood in the bowel motion. Bowel screening requires people to complete a FOBT in their own home and send their completed FOBT to a pathology laboratory for analysis. People with blood detected in their bowel motion are advised to consult their general practitioner to discuss further testing. In most cases this will involve a specialist looking inside the bowel using a special instrument. This procedure is known as a colonoscopy.
National Bowel Cancer Screening Program
In 2006 the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) began providing free bowel screening to people turning 55 and 65 years. In July 2008 this was extended to all Australians turning 50, 55 and 65 years of age.
The AIHW monitors and reports on the performance of the NBCSP. The most recent NBCSP Monitoring Report presents statistics for people invited to participate in the program between July 2008 and June 2011
Further information
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For more information on NBCSP please see www.cancerscreening.gov.au.