Bowel cancer is the fourth most common in the UK and accounts for 11% of all cancer cases nationwide with 46 people dying every day from the disease. This week one of the losses was the ‘universally loved’ BBC newsreader George Alagiah.
After being diagnosed in 2014 with bowel cancer, he went through a number of different treatments over the past nine years to curb the disease but in October of last year, he announced a break from his role on BBC News as he was dealing with a further spread of the disease.
Early detection of bowel cancer is key to a longer survival rate and knowing the early symptoms of the disease can help you to get treated faster.
The disease is most common in older people with 90% of cases being in people aged 60 or over. 75 or over but it can happen to anyone and with current projections suggesting that there will be 47,700 new cases of bowel cancer every year in the UK by 2038-2040, knowing what to look for is essential.
Especially since earlier this year, a survey carried out by Bowel Cancer UK found that 38% of people couldn’t name a single symptom of the disease.
The signs and symptoms of bowel cancer
According to NHS Inform, the main symptoms of bowel cancer to look out for are blood in the stool, changes in bowel habits – such as more frequent, looser stools and abdominal pain.
However, these symptoms are quite vague and can be symptoms of other conditions even just as simple as haemorrhoids (piles), or stomach pain from having eaten something that didn’t agree with your stomach. NHS Inform states that these symptoms are more significant when they persist despite simple treatments.
They add that most people who are eventually diagnosed with bowel cancel have one of the following combinations of symptoms:
- a persistent change in bowel habit that causes them to go to the toilet more often and pass looser stools, usually together with blood on or in their stools
- a persistent change in bowel habit without blood in their stools, but with abdominal pain
- blood in the stools without other haemorrhoid symptoms, such as soreness, discomfort, pain, itching or a lump hanging down outside the back passage
- abdominal pain, discomfort or bloating always provoked by eating, sometimes resulting in a reduction in the amount of food eaten and weight loss
It’s vital to note that the symptoms of bowel cancer can be subtle and won’t necessarily make you feel unwell. Any stool or abdominal abnormalities that don’t go away with time or simple treatments should be reported to your doctor.
How bowel cancer is treated
Depending on how far the cancer has spread and where the cancer is in your bowel, there are a range of different treatments available. However, the main treatments are:
- surgery – the cancerous section of bowel is removed; it is the most effective way of curing bowel cancer, and is all that many people need
- chemotherapy – where medication is used to kill cancer cells
- radiotherapy – where radiation is used to kill cancer cells
- biological treatments – a newer type of medication that increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy and prevents the cancer spreading