Spire Leeds Hospital Backs Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, England

Main Category: Colorectal Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 24 Apr 2009 - 8:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Each year, about 36,500 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer - equal to 100 people every day. It is the second most common cancer in women and the third most common amongst men[1]. This month is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and Spire Leeds Hospital is raising awareness of this disease, which can often present no or minimal symptoms.

Bowel, or colorectal cancer can take between five and 10 years to develop and can be found anywhere in the bowel or rectum. Many bowel cancers begin as polyps or small growths, which are often non-cancerous and can generally be removed easily. However, depending on how long they are left they can become cancerous. Often, bowel cancer can spread to other parts of the body, including the liver. Eight out of 10 cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed in people over 60[2].

Mr David Jayne, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at Spire Leeds Hospital, comments:

"Bowel cancer shares many symptoms in common with other benign gastrointestinal complaints, and for this reason the symptoms are frequently ignored until the cancer has reached an advanced stage. This is unfortunate as detection of a bowel tumour at an early stage often results in a complete cure. The key to improving the outcome of bowel cancer lies in its early detection, which in turn is dependent on a heightened awareness of the associated symptoms.

"Anyone experiencing bowel symptoms that are new in onset should seek the advice of their General Practioner, who will be able to refer them for a specialist opinion and further investigation as necessary. It is always better to be safe than sorry."

Top tips for spotting the symptoms of bowel cancer:

- A change in your normal bowel habit lasting four weeks or more
- Bleeding from the bottom and/or blood in your stools
- Extreme tiredness without obvious cause
- A pain and/or lump in your abdomen[3]

Notes

Spire Leeds Hospital is part of Spire Healthcare, the second largest private hospital provider in the UK with 36 hospitals and a total of 1,983 beds. Spire Healthcare treats 930,000 patients a year, employs 7,600 staff and works with over 3,000 medical consultants. For more information, please visit: http://www.spirehealthcare.com

[1] Cancer Research UK, 2009
[2] Cancer Research UK, 2009, Bowel Cancer at a Glance
[3] http://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk

Source
Spire Leeds Hospital

• Additional
• References
• Citations