Limited pilot programme to screen for bowel cancer finds 50 confirmed cases

The_Conductor

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/50-cases-detected-in-bowelcancer-pilot-scheme-1842904.html



A bowel-cancer screening programme piloted in the Tallaght area of Dublin has resulted in 50 people testing positive for the disease.

Six thousand test kits were sent out to people aged between 50 and 74, with around half of them agreeing to be tested.

Fifty cases of cancer were detected which would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

The project, run by Trinity College, says the figure shows that a national screening programme is essential.

Around 900 Irish people die every year from bowel cancer and experts believe screening could save more than one-third of these lives.

Larianne

Wow! How lucky were they.

Do you know of any sources of information as to why this form of cancer is so high in Ireland? I'm guessing the main reason is diet, yes?

The_Conductor

Larianne wrote: »

Wow! How lucky were they.

Do you know of any sources of information as to why this form of cancer is so high in Ireland? I'm guessing the main reason is diet, yes?

Very lucky- and with 50 positives from just under 3,000 random tests- thats a 1.7% positive rate- which seems rather shocking to me?

Diet and lifestyle have to be dominant factors in these appalling results. What is even more shocking is that while the media in general tend to portray bowel cancer as a 'male' disease- and breast cancer as a female disease- the results of this random test show that in the case of bowel cancer you cannot make this distinction- that women are only marginally less likely than men to suffer from bowel cancer.......

Larianne

I work in a nursing home and about 80% of patients have trouble with their bowel. I was talking to an Austrian nurse and she was surprised by the amount of people who have trouble with their bowls here.