Often a dot size of a red ink spot is the sole early sign of bowel cancer. Frequently, general practitioners tend to dismiss this symptom for piles telling their patients to not be worried about it.

Bowel Cancer Screening can help spot the disease early on. However, regrettably in countries like England, bowel cancer screening is offered only when one turns sixty years old and above. But, Scotland and other countries in the European Union this screening is obtainable from fifty years of age.

More than a hundred individuals are identified with bowel cancer on a daily basis in Britain. The death rates are soaring with sixteen thousand fatalities annually.

Bowel cancer when diagnosed in its early staging raises survival chances by ninety percent. The disease can be cured when spotted in its preliminary staging, however if not then there is solely 1-in-10 odds of the person being able be survive past 5 years.

With greater number of bowel cancer cases being diagnosed in the over-sixty age bracket of people, hence the last 2years has seen prompt roll out of screening programmes for those in the ages of sixty to sixty-nine years by the NHS in England. Eligible candidates are forwarded testing kits for use in their homes. The test checks for blood traces in stool sample and then sent back for evaluation purposes. In case there is an irregular test outcome then referral of that individual is done for examination.

Another issue is that solely fifty-two percent of those people entitled to get screened are actually taking it up. Often lesser knowledge and greater embarrassment about their bodies are the common reasons. When such people do visit their General Practitioner, mostly they get wrongly diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or piles. In case there is no improvement in a month’s time, especially with the blood loss and weight reduction, such people must ideally undergo endoscopy procedure – a pliable tubular device introduced for examining colon anomalies.

The most prevalent signs of bowel cancer are bleeding from the rear passage, blackish-appearing faeces and a variation in bowel motions.  Other symptoms comprise of weight loss, pain in abdomen and exhaustion.

A representative from the NHS Cancer Screening Programme states that the 60-69 year age bracket has been decided upon as it is a high-risk group having nearly eighty percent of bowel cancer cases being detected among sixty years and above individuals. A verdict on extension of age bracket for including fifty to fifty-nine year old people would be taken by concluding part of 2010.

Conceivably, this wide populace of people are apprehensive about the follow-up tests, however, the most modern procedure – virtual colonoscopy involves no pain or the need for anaesthesia.

The NHS initiated its countrywide bowel cancer screening plan 3 years back endeavouring to curb fatalities that have mounted to sixteen thousand annually. Only prostate and lung cancer are known to take lives of more men and just breast cancer alone is observed to claim the lives of more women.

From June 2006, testing kits have been circulated to 3.7 million people in the age bracket of 60-69 years, deemed the highly susceptible age bracket –requesting for stool sample intended for microscopic analysis to detect minuscule amounts of blood. However, regrettably merely 55% of those kits were given back.

It is planned that by the conclusion of the present year, all in the United Kingdom would be given a kit as soon as they touched sixty years of age. Though the use of the kit could deter many and be quite repulsive, the follow-up evaluation exams in those that tested affirmative have also been analogously intimidating.

During the course of the colonoscopy procedure that is conducted either under the influence of local or general anaesthesia; an endoscope is inserted for observing the inner parts of the colon. The fibreglass makeup of the endoscope ascertains its pliability and includes a set of magnifying and illuminated lenses employed for removal of any pre-malignant polyps.

A substitute to this procedure is barium enema or meal wherein the element barium forms a lining in the interior of the stomach wall facilitating the easy capture of X-rays for revealing the bowel. However, this also could be quite a disagreeable procedure and not as effectual in detecting malignant polyps.

Fortunately, a third means of detection known as virtual colonoscopy (CT colonoscopy) employs a computerised tomography for rendering three-dimensional imagery of the bowels from the insides of the body. The testing procedure is obtainable privately and costs about four hundred pounds.

Those with a family history of bowel cancer must ideally get scanned for any kind of dubious growths, on reaching fifty years of age as the cancer has been observed to be passed down the family line particularly via the male members of the kin.

The sole discomforting sensation experienced by the patients undergoing colonoscopy is the inflation of the colon by pumping in an average of 4 litres of carbon dioxide, introduced through the rectum that is only slightly discomforting.

The patient is asked to lie down face facing the bed that is placed inside a mega-sized CT scanner and the carbon dioxide is gradually passed inside leading to slow inflation of the interiors. One would feel a sense of distension, however no pain is experienced.

The bed then slides underneath a scanner and the patient is asked to hold breath for the short span of time the images of the bowel are being taken.

The entire process takes nearly 5 minutes and the patient is prepped for this procedure in advance by advised to stay in fasting for 2 days prior to this procedure and a strong laxative needs to be taken before this procedure. The outcome of the procedure takes about 5 days.

Virtual colonoscopy is not only comparatively safer but also much more comfortable than the existent ways, but is also analogously effectual.

Screening could help in diagnosing polyp growths prior to them turning malignant and for detecting colon cancer in its preliminary stages when the recovery rates are much higher. The widely used screening and analytic procedures for colorectal cancer are:

• Fecal Occult Test or Blood Stool Test – This procedure is used for checking any traces of blood in the stool or feces. This test could be conducted at the office of the general practitioner, the primary care doctor or in most cases a self-explanatory kit is provided for taking the sample at one’s home. The sample taken is then to be returned to the doctor’s office in order to be forwarded for laboratory analysis. A blood stool test does not have total accuracy as not all cancers can be identified since bleeding does not occur in all of them. Even cancers that bleed regularly tend to occur on a sporadic basis. Hence, it is likely that a negative test outcome could arise when actually the patient would be having cancer. Even when blood is noticed, it could be occurring due to the presence of other ailments or conditions like haemorrhoids. There might be certain food types that might suggest blood in the colon, when in actuality; there is no presence of blood.
• Stool DNA Test – This test examines numerous DNA markers that colon cancers or pre-malignant polyp cells tend to discard into the feces. A kit along with ‘to-do’ instructions is provided to the patient for collecting the stool sample at their home which is then to be submitted in the doctor’s office for detailed laboratory analysis. This test has greater accuracy in spotting colon cancers as compared to polyp detection. Though, it fails to recognise all DNA mutations that might signify the presence of the tumor.
• Flexible Sigmoidoscopy – With the assistance of a pliable, fine and illuminated tube known as a sigmoidoscope, an examination of the rectum and sigmoid (sigmoid colon is the last part of the colon that then leads to the rectum)is done. The tests usually last for some minutes and does not cause pain, though some discomforting sensation might be sensed. The likelihood of puncture to the colon wall might occur during the procedure. In case polyps are detected, then a colonoscopy would be performed for examining the colon in whole and for removal of any polyps that might be present that would then be microscopically analysed. A sigmoidoscopy would merely spot polyps or cancerous growths that might be existent in the last part of the colon and the rectum. It fails to identify polyps that might be present in the other areas of the digestive tract.
• Barium Enema X-rays – Barium is a contrasting dye inserted in an enema form into the bowel so that it would appear on an X-ray. Air is additionally added in a double-contrast barium enema. The barium inundates and forms a coating in the bowel lining that helps to create lucid images of the rectum, colon and infrequently of a tiny section of the small intestine. A pliable sigmoidoscopy is mostly used in this procedure for detecting any presence of small polyps that the barium enema X-ray might have accidentally skipped. In case any irregularity is discovered in the barium enema X-ray then the doctor would suggest going in for a colonoscopy.
• Colonoscopy – During this procedure the doctor employs a longish, bendable and slim tube known as a colonoscope that is longer in shape as compared to the sigmoidoscope. The colonoscope helps in viewing the entire colon and rectum and any polyps detected during the examination are instantly removed – at times the tissue samples might also be removed (biopsy procedure), however it is not a painful procedure. Though colonoscopy procedure is pain-free, few of the patients might be offered a mild version of a sedative in order to instil a sense of calmness. Some form of laxatives would be given to the patient prior to the procedure for clearing out the bowels from the colon (enemas are atypically employed). Bleeding and puncture to the colon wall could be likely, though they are uncommon complications during this procedure.
• CT colonography or virtual colonoscopy – A computerized tomography or CT scan machine is employed for taking images of the colon. The colon needs to be totally cleared out prior to this examination for the test to be totally effectual. In case any anomalous growth is identified, a conventional colonoscopy would become necessary in such a situation. A study has shown that CT colonography was lesser-invasive, was tolerated better by the patients and had an optimal diagnostic precision as compared to colonoscopy.
• Ultrasound Scan – Sound waves are employed to assist in detecting if the cancer has metastasized to the other body parts.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI – This offers 3-D imagery of the bowel that assists in diagnosis.