The test that could save your life - new clinical trial underway

Published 16 Aug 2010 09:32

Local people aged between 50 and 74 are helping trial a new style of bowel screening kit.

Back in September 2007 NHS Ayrshire & Arran became the first NHS Board to introduce the national bowel cancer screening programme after successful trials in Tayside and Grampian. Now people in the NHS Ayrshire & Arran and NHS Tayside areas will be trialing the new kit for the next six months, to establish its effectiveness.

Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is the third most common cancer in Scotland, affecting both men and women. Over 200 new cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed in Ayrshire and Arran every year.

One of Ayrshire and Arran’s leading colorectal surgeons, Mr Bob Diament, commented: “Early diagnosis makes all the difference with bowel cancer. Bowel cancer screening in Ayrshire and Arran has so far helped us diagnose a further 134 new, early, curable cases per year and prevented many more people from going on to develop bowel cancer later by identifying and removing pre-cancerous polyps.”

More than 50,000 people in Ayrshire and Arran are offered the test each year. Testing kits are delivered to the homes of people aged between 50 and 74 every two years, on or around their birthday. The new kit requires a single sample of a bowel motion, and then it can be returned freepost in a secure container to the Bowel Screening Centre.

Mr Diament summed up: “Screening is the most important development in the treatment of bowel cancer which has happened in my career as a specialist - so when your screening kit arrives in the post, please do the test and don’t die of embarrassment.”

For more information about the new kit, visit our website, www.nhsayrshireandarran.com and select ‘Services’.

For more information on the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme, call 0845 270 0030 (calls charged at local rate) or visit www.bowelscreening.scot.nhs.uk.

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