Researchers develop new bowel cancer test tool that predicts disease with 90% accuracy for high-risk patients

Cancer is the second leading cause of death across the globe. Ahead of World Cancer Day, a new method for detecting bowel cancer has been discovered that is 90 per cent accurate at predicting higher-risk people, as per recent research.

Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers in the body, and it's the third most common cancer of the body, each one of us has around a 4 to 5 per cent lifetime risk of developing bowel cancer.

According to a recent study conducted by Cancer Research UK, it has proven over 90 per cent accuracy in predicting bowel cancer risk in the next five years in people suffering from IBD. The findings of the study could lead to the development of a blood test that will inform doctors which IBD patients are most at risk of bowel cancer.

According to Trevor Graham, from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), who is a co-researcher, most people with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease would not develop bowel cancer.

New diagnosis method could offer much relief to patients

The scientists hope that the findings could spare people who are at lower risk from the stress of needing regular colonoscopies or undergoing surgery to remove the colon.

Patients who are suffering from inflammatory bowel disease have a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer than people with IBD. Professor Ailsa Hart, co-lead of the study from St Mark's, in the study mentioned that the need to undergo assessment with regular colonoscopies is the way to find out the early signs of cancer.

According to the researchers, these tests are onerous and not very pleasant for patients and are not perfect at detecting early cancer changes.

Symptoms of bowel cancer

• Constipation
• Diarrhoea
• Blood in stool
• Abdominal pain
• Lump
• Weight loss
• Fatigue
• Breathlessness

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