Detection and Prevention of bowel cancer

Bowel Cancer is a curable cancer however; it is still the second most common cancer related disease to cause death in the UK after Lung cancer.1 this is due to late detection and a lack of understanding of the causes of the disease1. In this synopsis, Detection and prevention of Bowel cancer will be briefly discussed.

There are many ways to prevent Bowel cancer, including a person’s dietary pattern where a high fibre diet reduces the risk of bowel cancer as opposed to a low fibre diet. 1 Other factors can also be important in the prevention of bowel cancer including obesity and exercise, with obesity posing a risk of bowel cancer and weight loss and regular exercise being effective preventative measures1. Another way of preventing bowel cancer could be through the continued use of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin1.

Furthermore, early diagnosis and screening is also an effective way of preventing Bowel cancer. With screening and surveillance programmes set up for adults between the age of 60 and 75.1 The World Health Organisation has set up criteria for screening which states that the disease to be screened must be a serious disease. Bowel cancer falls under this category as it can lead to morbidity and death. 2 Screening tests for bowel cancer have proved to be successful in detecting polyps which allow the removal and detection of cancer at an early stage, thus increasing chances of survival.2 Survival is measured from the time of detection of the cancer and so screening does