Prevention is the best cure for one of Britain's Biggest Killers
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
The figures are staggering, with more than 37,500 men and women* diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK every year, which is someone every 15 minutes, making it the third most commonly diagnosed cancer. It is also the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK with more than 16,000 people dying each year; amounting to one life claimed every 30 minutes.
If diagnosed at the earliest stage, bowel cancer is one of the most treatable cancers, with a survival rate of more than 90% over five years**. However not enough people are seeking diagnosis or treatment when the disease is in the early, more curable stages. The sad fact is that once symptoms occur, the cancer has often progressed to a more advanced stage, so it really is important to detect it early.
Preventicum, the private clinic for full-body MOTs, is at the cutting-edge of preventive medicine and this April, Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, they are focusing evermore on the importance of detecting bowel cancer before symptoms appear. As part of the Preventicum Check-Up, the clinic offers an MRI colonography which can detect pre-cancerous polyps and other growths and abnormalities in the bowel in their early stages. In line with UK risk statistics over the last 5 years 3.3% of Preventicum clients have had a colon polyp diagnosed of which they were previously unaware and 0.2% had more than one polyp detected.
The procedure is less invasive and less uncomfortable than conventional colonoscopy methods and takes just ten minutes. The vast majority of bowel cancers begin as a polyp in the colon, which enlarges over time and becomes cancerous. If detected, polyps can usually be easily removed. Polyps larger than 10mm have a significantly greater chance of becoming cancerous. At Preventicum, we are able to visualise polpys as small as 5mm, ensuring that clients leave with peace of mind, safe in the knowledge that significant, pre-cancerous polyps can be detected early.
A Preventicum full-body Check-Up augments the standard blood and urine tests with in-depth screening for major health conditions and their all-important risk factors: including ionising radiation-free MRI colonoscopy to look for bowel cancer and its primary precursor of polyps. Particularly prevalent in those of middle-age, polyps manifest themselves in the colon and, if left undetected and untreated, can spread and become malignant. 97% of all bowel cancer diagnoses are in people over the age of 50***, highlighting the importance for screening for the over 50s.
Preventicum's MRI colonoscopy takes just 10 minutes and is x-ray-free, unlike CT colonoscopy, which exposes the client to a more than significant dose of unnecessary radiation. Results are usually available immediately from Preventicum's consultant radiologist, so referrals can be made there and then for polyps to be quickly and painlessly removed.
Dr Garry Savin, Medical Director at Preventicum says "Bowel cancer is one of Britain's most fatal diseases and with many of the symptoms lying latent, the need for preventive assessment is vital to ensure that any diagnosis can take place before the disease has a chance to progress. At Preventicum we offer minimally-invasive, x-ray-free screening, providing patients with peace of mind. The good news is that if these potentially cancerous polyps are detected early enough they can be removed painlessly and the client can be cured."
