Bowel Cancer
Awareness Month
Bowel cancer is a cancer of the large bowel or rectum, it is also known as colorectal cancer. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK and is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. If detected early bowel cancer treatment is more likely to be successful.
Symptoms include:
- Change in bowel habit, including looser stool, thinner stool and having to open your bowels more often.
- A feeling of incomplete emptying or feeling you need to strain even after opening your bowels
- Bleeding from the back passage and/or blood in your stool
- Unexplained weight loss
- Extreme tiredness
- A pain or lump in your abdomen
Risk factors include:
- Age over 50
- A strong family history of bowel cancer
- Inherited conditions such as familial adenomatous polyposis or Lynch syndrome
- Longstanding inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis
- Excess Alcohol consumption
- Obesity. (Being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight reduces
the risk) - Lifestyle factors:
+ Eating too much red and processed meat
+ Eating too little fibre. (Eating lots of fibre from wholegrains, pulses, vegetables
and fruit helps to reduce your risks of bowel cancer) - Smoking
- Extreme tiredness
- A pain or lump in your abdomen
Bowel Cancer Screening
Screening is a way of testing healthy people to see if they show early signs of cancer, when there is a good chance of successful treatment. Screening can also find non-cancerous growths (polyps) in the bowel that may develop into cancer in the future. Removing these polyps can reduce your risk of getting bowel cancer.
At the London General Practice we are able to guide our patients to access a number of screening techniques designed to detect bowel cancers early. These include assessment, blood tests and the following:
- Faecal immunochemical test (FIT) These tests look for tiny traces of blood in a stool sample.
- CT Colonography or virtual colonoscopy.
This is when your bowel is imaged using a CT scanner after a contrast agent is placed in the bowel. - Colonoscopy: This test involves an endoscopist using a flexible tube called a colonoscope with a light and a camera at one end to examine the bowel and take samples where needed.
Early detection of bowel cancer is critical and therefore it is important to seek medical advice if you have any concerns.
Get in touch:
Get in touch
Phone: +44 (0)20 7935 1000
Email: info@thelondongeneralpractice.com
The London General Practice is a renowned private medical practice based on Harley Street in London. Our highly qualified, experienced practitioners offer discreet care to some of the world’s most discerning individuals and families.
