Screening is more likely to pick up colorectal cancer at the earliest stage than GP referral or emergency hospital admission, data released today shows.
The figures, published by Cancer Research UK and Public Health England’s National Cancer Intelligence Network, show for the first time the stages at which cancer is detected by the different routes to diagnosis.
Of the cases picked up by bowel screening, where the stage at diagnosis was known, 37% were caught at stage one, while 8% of diagnoses were found at stage four.
Among patients diagnosed following a GP referral, 34% were stage one compared to 22% at stage four.
Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK’s director of early diagnosis, said: “For the first time we’re able to see specifically how advanced or how early cancers are when they are diagnosed via different routes within the health system.
“Early diagnosis means better survival and late diagnosis is bad news for patients, so we need to learn how to avoid it. This new information really helps us understand the best ways to diagnose cancer and where the health service should target resources.”
The full publication also contains data about people in England diagnosed in 2012 and 2013 by stage for bladder, breast, kidney, lung, melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, ovarian, prostate and uterine cancers.
Of the total 574,500 cases diagnosed in 2012 and 2013, screening picked up the highest proportion of early stage cancers – 63% stage one compared to 3% stage four.
Dr Anne Mackie, director of screening at Public Health England, said: “This new research on the stage at which people are diagnosed suggests that screening has an important part to play in achieving earlier diagnosis of bowel cancer. Everyone aged 60 to 74 in England receives an invitation to be screened along with some information to help them decide.”
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