Although its preventable through screening, bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK.  Each year, more than 36,500 people are diagnosed with the disease and around 16,000 people die of bowel cancer each year in the UK.

One in twenty people will develop bowel cancer at some point in their life.  Nine out of ten people with bowel cancer detected at an early stage survive for more than five years, however, if the tumour is very advanced when it's found, fewer than one in twenty people survive, which builds a powerful case for early screening for the disease.

Research published in The Lancet covering a randomised trial population of over 170,000 patients has definitively shown that a quick, one-off screening test saves lives.

Although 97% of all diagnosed casees are in people over 50, the NHS national bowel cancer screening service (introducted in 2006) applies to those aged 60-69, which also uses a different screening test, a Faecal Occult Blood Test.  The latest research covered flexible sigmoidoscopy, so we've provided a summary of the different testing approaches below, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each type of test.

Faecal Occult Blood test (FOB) - looks for blood in faeces, a very simple and inexpensive test.  However, the weakness of the test is that it's not very sensitive or specific for cancer, as many patients with cancer or large polyps (which can grow into tumours) don't have blood showing in the stool.  Many patients who have a positive test result will have no colonic problem, so may have had further unnecessary tests and anxiety.

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