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Bowel Cancer – Do You Know the Symptoms?

During Bowel Cancer Awareness month, research has confirmed that 38% of adults in the Thames Valley Region can’t name a single symptom of bowel cancer – the UK’s second biggest cancer killer.

Thames Valley Cancer Alliance (TVCA) is supporting Bowel Cancer UK, which carried out the survey, to ensure that more adults are aware of the five main symptoms of a disease:

  • bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo
  • changes in your bowel habits – eg constipation or diarrhoea – that continue and can’t be explained
  • unexplained or sudden weight loss
  • feeling tired or breathless for no obvious reason
  • a pain or lump in your tummy or your back passage

43,000 UK adults are diagnosed each year, but bowel cancer is treatable and curable, especially if diagnosed early. Nearly everyone diagnosed at the earliest stage will survive bowel cancer, but this drops significantly as the disease develops. Knowing these key symptoms and if you have them, or if things don’t feel right, visiting your GP, can help increase the chances of an early diagnosis.

Dr Shelley Hayles, Faster Diagnosis Primary Care Clinical Lead at TVCA said: “Not knowing the early symptoms of bowel cancer helps make it the UK’s second biggest cancer killer. But if it’s diagnosed early, it’s very treatable – even curable. Early diagnosis really does save lives.”

Test kits for ‘poo’ (FIT tests) are sent to people aged 60-74 in England, every two years, but everyone should see their GP in between if they have any of the five key symptoms for more than three weeks.

“Doing your FIT ‘poo’ test at home and returning it through the post is also essential for early diagnosis”, continues Dr Hayles.  “They are much simpler to do than you might expect and so it’s a quick and simple way to ensure you either get an all-clear on bowel cancer, or a prompt diagnosis so treatment can begin early.”

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Editor Notes

The Thames Valley Cancer Alliance (TVCA) brings together cancer specialists, experts, and charities, with people and communities across six counties to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan to improve cancer services. Its ambition is to offer the best possible experience and outcome for every patient affected by cancer across the Thames Valley.

Issued: 19/04/22
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