Bowel cancer screening can help reduce deaths: Study
| Sep 23, 2019, 17:19 IST
Bowel cancer screening can help reduce the number of deaths caused by the disease by nearly 45 per cent, according to a new study conducted by a team from the University of South Australia.
Close to 700,000 people across the world reportedly die due to bowel cancer.However, researchers claim the statistics would be much higher if it weren't for pre-diagnostic colonoscopies.
Detecting the disease early before the symptoms show up is crucial to reducing death rates caused by the disease. Researchers came to this conclusion after studying data from12,906 bowel cancer patients, as well as faecal occult blood testing (FOBT), and follow-up colonoscopy.
Dr Ming Li, one of the study authors, said patients who underwent pre-diagnostic colonoscopies showed a "significant increase" in survival. "The risk of colorectal cancer death reduces step-wise with increasing numbers of colonoscopy examinations before symptoms appear, cutting the mortality rate from 17 per cent to 45 per cent," she told a news portal.
Adding, "Our findings show the value of the National Bowel Screening Program which is now being rolled out to everyone in Australia over the age of 50 on a two-yearly basis. It involves doing a simple, non-invasive faecal occult blood test (FOBT) which, if positive, is followed up with a colonoscopy."
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer across the world. Cancer Council reports 90 per cent of patients can be treated if the disease is caught early.
Previous research claims bowel cancer risk can be reduced with the help of cereal and a high fibre diet. "Eating more fibre after colorectal cancer diagnosis is associated with a lower risk of dying from colorectal cancer," senior study author Dr Andrew Chan from Harvard Medical School andMassachusetts General Hospital in Boston told a news portal. Adding,"This seems to be independent of the amount of fibre eaten before diagnosis."
Picture Courtesy: Google Images
Close to 700,000 people across the world reportedly die due to bowel cancer.However, researchers claim the statistics would be much higher if it weren't for pre-diagnostic colonoscopies.
Detecting the disease early before the symptoms show up is crucial to reducing death rates caused by the disease. Researchers came to this conclusion after studying data from12,906 bowel cancer patients, as well as faecal occult blood testing (FOBT), and follow-up colonoscopy.
Dr Ming Li, one of the study authors, said patients who underwent pre-diagnostic colonoscopies showed a "significant increase" in survival. "The risk of colorectal cancer death reduces step-wise with increasing numbers of colonoscopy examinations before symptoms appear, cutting the mortality rate from 17 per cent to 45 per cent," she told a news portal.
Adding, "Our findings show the value of the National Bowel Screening Program which is now being rolled out to everyone in Australia over the age of 50 on a two-yearly basis. It involves doing a simple, non-invasive faecal occult blood test (FOBT) which, if positive, is followed up with a colonoscopy."
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer across the world. Cancer Council reports 90 per cent of patients can be treated if the disease is caught early.
Previous research claims bowel cancer risk can be reduced with the help of cereal and a high fibre diet. "Eating more fibre after colorectal cancer diagnosis is associated with a lower risk of dying from colorectal cancer," senior study author Dr Andrew Chan from Harvard Medical School andMassachusetts General Hospital in Boston told a news portal. Adding,"This seems to be independent of the amount of fibre eaten before diagnosis."
Picture Courtesy: Google Images