Thompsons Solicitors
Telephone08000 224 224
Claim by Text. Standard network rates applyText CLAIM to 82010
close [X]

Call back for new
personal injury claims only

Leave your details to request a call back.

* Required fields

Yes No further information     

You are in: Home Page | Personal Injury | Medical Negligence Claims | Clinical Negligence Articles and Clinical Negligence Factsheets | Developments in the Diagnosis of Bowel Cancer Screening

October 2010

Developments in the Diagnosis of Bowel Cancer Screening

Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, with approximately 37,000 people being diagnosed annually. It is also the second most common cause of death with over 16,000 people dying from the illness each year.

The government announcement in early October 2010 that a new bowel cancer screening test is to be implemented, following a 16 year clinical trial, has therefore been well received by both clinicians and the general public. It has been described by Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK as “one of the most important developments in cancer research for years”.

Present Screening

The present NHS Bowel Screening Programme started being implemented in July 2006 and was in place nationwide by 2010. This offers screening to all men and women aged 60 to 69, as this age group is considered to be most at risk. They are sent an invitation to be screened and then a home testing kit is posted out to them. The kit is used to provide a bowel motion sample that is sent to a laboratory for testing. The sample is tested for tiny amounts of blood called Faecal Occult Blood (FOB) that can not usually be seen by the naked eye, as polyps in the bowel and bowel cancers sometimes bleed. The results do not diagnose bowel cancer, but indicate whether FOB was found in the sample and further investigation is required by way of a colonoscopy.

A colonoscopy is an investigation that involves passing a thin flexible tube with a camera into the large bowel so it can be internally visualised and examined. Samples of symptomless growths called polyps or adenomas and any abnormal cells are taken during the colonoscopy and sent for testing, as most bowel cancers develop from polyps and removal will prevent them developing into cancer.

New Screening Test

The new screening programme to be implemented by the government will incorporate into the present screening programme the carrying out of a sigmoidoscopy (otherwise known as a flexi-scope), a procedure used to look inside the rectum and lower part of the bowel. However, it won’t be able to detect polyps or cancers in the upper reaches of the bowel, so the FOB test will still have a role in detecting early cancers.

The new screening tests have been approved following a trial by Professor Wendy Atkin from Imperial College London, for which Cancer Research UK provided part-funding. She found that for people aged between 55 and 64, a one off flexi-scope examination reduced their chances of developing cancer by one third compared to a control group that were not screened and also reduced the death rate from bowel cancer by 43% among those attending screening. Professor Atkin estimates that the one off screen that does not need to be repeated for at least 11 years could prevent at least 5000 from being diagnosed with bowel cancer and at least 3000 people dying from the disease each year.

Dukes Staging

When cancer is diagnosed it is staged using the Dukes system, which tells doctors how far it has spread. Staging is important because treatment is often based around the stage a cancer has reached.

• Dukes A means cancer has only affected the inner most lining of the colon or rectum or has slightly grown into the muscle layer
• Dukes B means the cancer has grown through the muscle layer of the colon or rectum.
• Dukes C means the cancer has spread to at least one lymph node in the area
• Dukes D means the cancer has spread to somewhere else in the body, such as the liver. It can also be called Stage 4 or advanced bowel cancer.

Treatment

The treatment that is recommended for bowel cancer will depend on the type and size of cancer and the staging. The main treatment for 8 out of 10 patients is surgery. Chemotherapy or radiotherapy may also be offered, as well as surgery.

During surgery the part of the bowel that contains the cancer is removed and the two open ends will be joined together. If this is not possible the bowel will be brought out on to the skin surface on the abdomen, known as a stoma. This procedure is called a colostomy, where the opening of the large bowel is brought onto the surface of the abdomen or an ileostomy where the opening of the small bowel is brought onto the surface of the abdomen. The operation can usually be reversed at a later date.

If it is not possible to remove all the cancer by surgery, additional treatment can be offered with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. These treatments destroy any remaining cancer cells to prevent it spreading to any other part of the body. Alternatively they can be used to shrink a cancer tumour before surgery.

Conclusion

What is clear is that how well patients do after treatment is dependent on how early the cancer is diagnosed and how far it has spread when treatment is commenced. This is why the new screening programme that will allow early detection is considered to be such a significant development that will help the NHS delivery higher cancer survival rates.

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley has also announced they will be increasing the number of cancer specialists by 1,200 by 2012, compared to 2009 and expanding radiotherapy capacity. They have also pledged to spend £43 million between 2011 and 2014 to ensure that all high priority patients are offered proton beam therapy, where cancers are beamed with very high concentrations of radiotherapy.

Compensation Claim Advice

Thompsons Solicitors have years of experience in dealing with cases involving clinical negligence.

If you or anyone you know has suffered from any form of clinical negligence, telephone us now for accurate personal injury claim advice.

There are strict time limits in place to make any personal injury compensation claim. For further information, contact us or visit our Questions Answered page.

Thompsons Solicitors are experts in all matters relating to clinical negligence and will be able to advise you as to whether or not you have a valid personal injury claim for compensation. Our specialist clinical negligence lawyers will be happy to talk you through the process of making a claim in plain English and will be happy to answer any questions or queries you may have.

Telephone us now on 08000 224 224 or complete one of our online personal injury compensation claim forms.