Lifesaving test

A simple test for bowel cancer could save thousands of lives, according to cancer experts

Thousands of lives could be saved if people use a bowel cancer testing kit being sent to their homes, experts predicted today.

Cancer Research UK estimated that up to 20,000 fewer people would die over the next 20 years if just 60% of eligible people were screened.

Kits are currently being sent to those aged 60 to 69 in England, with Scotland and Wales also rolling out similar schemes.

Researchers calculated that if 80% of eligible people used the kit, up to 25,000 deaths from bowel cancer could be prevented over the next 20 years.

The calculations were made to launch a Cancer Research UK campaign, Screening Matters, which urges the Government to get an extra three million people screened for breast, cervical and bowel cancer.

Around 35,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year in the UK, and more than 16,000 die from the disease.

It is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. The testing kit, being supplied in England by the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, is designed so that people take three faecal samples at home and send them off for testing.

Those who have blood in their stools are invited for a colonoscopy, and the test should be repeated every two years.

According to the screening programme, 98% of people will receive a normal result while 2% will get an abnormal result and will usually be offered a colonoscopy.

Professor Max Parkin, Cancer Research UK epidemiologist at the Wolfson Institute in London, said: ``Our research looked at a realistic scenario where uptake is about 60% and compared those results with an optimistic scenario where uptake could rise to 80%.

TV presenter, Matthew Wright, said: ``Bowel cancer has torn through my family, taking both my father and grandfather.

"But the bowel cancer screening programme is a fantastic opportunity for people to be checked.

"It is a simple test, easy to do in your home and a way of putting your mind at rest. I hope everyone who is sent a kit makes sure they use it."