Early diagnosis of bowel cancer lifts survival rate

Published on Monday 22 June 2009 22:52

MORE than nine out of ten people diagnosed with bowel cancer in its early stages will survive, according to new figures.

Improved surgical techniques are contributing to a rise in the number of people successfully battling the disease, said experts from the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN).

But they warned that anyone with suspected symptoms must get checked out as only about 13 per cent of bowel cancer cases are diagnosed in the early stages.

The NCIN looked at every case of bowel cancer diagnosed in England between 1996 and 2006 and the percentage of people who survived for at least five years.

Overall, there were 308,734 cases, of which 26,727 were diagnosed in the early stages. Of this latter group, 93 per cent were still alive five years later.

Paul Finan, chairman of the NCIN's bowel cancer group, said: "The reason why more people are surviving early stage bowel cancer than ever before is mostly because of many improvements in surgery.

"This includes using less invasive techniques, and patients receiving better care around the time of surgery, like more sophisticated anaesthetic care and better care during hospital admission and recovery."