Home testing kits could cut bowel cancer deaths
Monday December 29th, 2008
Cancer experts say that deaths from bowel cancer could be dramatically reduced with wider use of home screening kits.
In the UK, over two and a half thousand deaths could be prevented annually, according to Dr Max Parkin of Queen Mary, University of London, UK. His team used a computer simulation and found that deaths could drop by around 16 per cent.
"Cancer of the bowel is a major problem in the UK for both men and women - it is the second most common cause of cancer death," they report. "Screening is absolutely crucial in order to reduce the number of people dying from bowel cancer."
Home testing kits identify traces of blood in peoples' stools, which can be an early sign of bowel cancer. Since 2007, tests have been posted to people aged between 60 and 74 years old every two years. Samples are sent to a laboratory for testing and the results are posted out within two weeks. But only about 57 per cent of people return their kits for analysis. The screening programme is being rolled out across England and will cover the whole country by the end of next year.
"In this study we're assuming that between 60 and 80 per cent of people will take up the opportunity to be screened," said Dr Markin. "But, if we can encourage more people to take part then we would hope to save even more lives."
Results of the Cancer Research UK-funded study are published in the Journal of Medical Screening. Sara Hiom of Cancer Research UK commented: "Worryingly, there are still a large number of people not using the testing kits."
Parkin, D. M. et al. Predicting the Impact of the Screening Programme for Colorectal Cancer in the UK. The Journal of Medical Screening, published online December 23, 2008.
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