Point Of Care Laboratories Ltd - Bowel cancer screening, Screening tests, National Bowel Cancer Screening Programme, Cancer Screening Tests, FOBT, Faecal Occult Blood Test, Hemoccult, FOB, Haemoccult, POCL

1. What are the benefits of bowel cancer screening?

2. What is a Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT)?

3. What are the advantages of a Faecal Occult Blood Test?

4. What are the risk factors of bowel cancer?

5. What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?

Q1 What are the benefits of bowel cancer screening?

A Many cancers, including bowel cancer, are curable if found early. Most cancers do not cause warning signs in their early stages, which makes finding cancer early, very important. Regular bowel cancer screening is used to detect cancers at an early stage when they are curable.

Q2 What is a Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT)?

A A Faecal Occult Blood Test is used to screen for (occult) hidden blood in the stool. Bowel cancer has few, if any, symptoms in its early stages but can be picked up early, by detecting small amounts of non-visible blood in the stool (Faecal Occult Blood Test).

Q3 What are the advantages of a Faecal Occult Blood Test?

A A FOBT is non-invasive, easy to use and carried out in the privacy of your own home. Completed test cards are then sent to a professional laboratory for analysis.

Q4 What are the risk factors of bowel cancer?

A 1 in 20 people will get bowel cancer during their lives. Some of the known risk factors include:

Being older than 50 years of age
Having a close family member with bowel cancer or polyps
Having a personal history of:

Bowel cancer of non-cancerous polyps
Other types of cancer
Inflammatory bowel diseases such as Ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease.

Q5 What are the symptoms of bowel cancer?

A Bowel cancer has few, if any symptoms in the early stages, but any change in bowel habit, abdominal pain or visible blood in the stool should be investigated.